Can Copyright Apply to SPAM?

Richard W.M. Jones asks: "The Great Spam Archive received a legal threat today. A 'lawyer' claims that some spam displayed at the site is copyright, and must be removed. I'm claiming it's fair use for me to display an unwanted email sent to thousands (probably millions) of people at random. Is this fair use, or do they really have a case?"

Comments

They're right

[Trusty Penfold]

Just because something is unsolicited doesn't mean the owner has abandoned their copyright and the work has entered the public domain.

There is plenty of precedent - billboards and posters and broadcast advertisments (radio and television) are all unsolicited yet few would deny that they are still copyrighted by their owners.

Re:Yes but -- much spam is illegal

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Copyright here is being used not to protect profitability but to suppress public discussion.

Ah. You may have just hit the nail right on the head. That's an excellent way of looking at the question. Public comment is critical to developing policy on the question of commercial email, and comment only in the abstract is not useful. Good one.

I'd imagine that a judge would just latch on to the noncommercial and critical aspects of the archive, and stamp the whole thing fair use, rather than trying to break new ground on yet another copyright exemption.

Good argument.