- From: Cynthia Waddell <Cynthia.Waddell@PSINetCS.com>
- Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 09:48:54 -0700
- To: "Graham Oliver" <graham_oliver@yahoo.com>, <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Hello, I thought it might be interesting to point out that in the US our copyright law says that it is not an infringement of copyright law to provide the published work in an accessible format. In particular, I am referencing section 121 which was added to our copyright code in September 1996 under Public Law 104-197, 110 Stat. 2394, 2416. This means that even if an organization is publishing in PDF so that it is not "editable" as mentioned by Mr. Oliver, US law still provides copyright protection when accessible formats are provided for use by people with disabilities. Hence, the argument that a publication must be in PDF to protect copyright does not have merit when the issue is accessibility. Best regards, Cynthia Waddell --------------------------------------- Cynthia D. Waddell, JD Metamor Sr. Consultant Accessibility Subject Matter Expert Accessibility Center of Excellence (800)547-5602 or Fax (919)783-6852 ACE Offices are located at San Jose, CA, Sacramento, CA and Raleigh, NC USA San Jose Office: PO BOX 5456 San Jose, California USA 95150-5456 http://www.icdri.org/cynthia_waddell.htm -----Original Message----- From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]On Behalf Of Graham Oliver Sent: Monday, September 03, 2001 1:48 PM To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org Subject: PDF Files and Copyright One of the arguments put forward for using PDF files on web sites is that the content is not 'editable' by the web site visitor, whereas an HTML page is easily edited by the web site visitor. So 'We use PDF files because our information is copyrighted and we want to protect it' is an argument put forward. Is this right? What are the alternative perspectives? Cheers Graham Oliver ===== 'Making on-line information accessible' Mobile Phone : +64 25 919 724 - New Zealand Work Phone : +64 9 846 6995 - New Zealand AIM ID : grahamolivernz ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie
Received on Tuesday, 4 September 2001 12:39:07 UTC