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July 12, 2006
"We need another Dickens"
New Labour are not as stupid as they seem. I have now had a chance to take legal advice, and that advice is as follows. To defend this case would cost the price of a London house. I don't have a house, in London or anywhere else. I am therefore obliged to give in to force majeure and remove some of the documents from my own site. This reeking government is therefore able to mask its stink on this particular miniscule corner of the internet.
Here is another piece of legal advice I received. Copyright cases cover one instance of publication in one place. Anyone else who has published any government documents that might be Crown Copyright, or not, (and I believe there are hundreds of thousands of documents on the web on which the government could, by the argument in Mr Buttrill's letter, claim copyright), is an individual case and can wait to hear from Mr Buttrill.
Force Majeure wields a two-edged sword.
Craig
Posted by andrew on July 12, 2006 12:43 PM in the category The Book
Comments
Crown Copyright states that you can publish extracts from letters by civil servants and ministers without permission, providing the extracts are no longer than 250 words: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/copyright-guidance/re-use-of-crown-copyright-extracts.htm
So, you can republish the most salient extracts. Alternatively, 250-word extracts can be published by different people and linked to on your website.
A word of warning to those thinking of republishing the letters, Crown Copyright is covered by the Berne Convention, which would require all contracting parties to take action on HMG's behalf. A list is here: http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?country_id=ALL&start_year=ANY&end_year=ANY&search_what=C&treaty_id=15
Iran, Somalia, Uganda, Angola, Sierra Leone, Turkmenistan, East Timor, Laos and Cambodia are among those states not signed up to the Berne Convention. You could try publishing the documents on websites hosted in these states, although I would imagine that this will be difficult.
Posted by: Daniel ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 12, 2006 5:59 PM
Has Murder in Samarkand been reviewed by any mainstream British newspaper?
Posted by: dijonmustard at July 13, 2006 4:06 PM
Not yet. This Sunday I believe the Sunday Times will, but it's by Sir Max Hastings who has strongly supported both the war in Iraq and George Bush's Middle East policy, so it might not be exactly friendly.
Posted by: Craig at July 13, 2006 10:01 PM
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