User talk:Groupuscule/Third World Traveler

Weak case for contributory copyright infringement under U.S. law

I'm not convinced that this meets the threshold for contributory copyright infringement under U.S. law (regarding the statement: "Therefore, if we want to cite these articles and books, we shouldn't link to Third World Traveler copies of these books if doing so would constitute contributory copyright violation.").

For Wikipedia editors (individually or collectively), or the WMF to be held liable as contributory infringers, direct infringement would first have to be proven, and then actual knowledge of that infringement would also need to be shown. Then, the case would rest upon whether the linking of the material by way of citation constituted a material contribution to the infringement. (See here for case law and here for an explanation of the statute.)

Nevertheless, I agree with the spirit of the effort—as a matter of principle it would be bad form to even refer to plagiarized material. TheFeds 08:18, 6 November 2012 (UTC)