[WikiEN-l] Re: Experiment on new pages and GFDL

Fri Dec 9 03:39:57 UTC 2005

The Cunctator wrote:

>I'm wondering how many US copyright lawyers are participating in this
>discussion.
>
>While we're all speaking out of our butts, let me add that simply
>explicating that by submitting to Wikipedia you're willing to accept
>authorship credit under the collective name of "Wikipedia
>contributors" would likely handle any legal considerations.
>
>But IANAL. And it's not like lawyers actually know anything. It's all
>whistling Dixie until a court rules.
>  
>
That, in a manner of speaking, would be one reason why wise lawyers 
often refrain from joining in discussions where they might end up 
dispensing legal advice without any idea to whom they might be giving 
it, or how those people might use it. And why, on those occasions when 
they do offer such statements to the general public, they frequently 
lard it up with disclaimers about how it is not legal advice.

--Michael Snow