Legal Question in Business Law in Massachusetts

Mailing Lists

I belong to an school alumni site and I am trying to get an Online database together for them of past alumni. There is a printing company that has our list but refuses to give us the list. I was wondering if they can do this. We paid for them to import the list .. we pay them 10.00 a hour to maintain the list but yet they will not give us a copy of the list. I can understand why they do not want to do this but I think unless they did this free of charge... It would be theirs but really we paid them. We also pay for the printing of bulletin and postcards.. and we pay for postage. Do they have to turn over this list?? We have over 15,000 alumni members on this list.


Asked on 3/12/07, 7:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Herbert Cooper Law Offices of Jameson & Cooper

Re: Mailing Lists

It really depends upon who you represent and who owns the list. The list is intellectual property, probably of the school or alumni association which created it. That association or school should have the authority to determine who has access to the list and under what terms and conditions (restrictions). However, if the printing company has added bells and whistles (e.g. address verification, etcetera) and has not been paid amounts agreed to by the owner, it may have some rights in the list pursuant to contract. It is hard to know what the hitch is without knowing why they claim the right to withhold.

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Answered on 3/13/07, 12:28 pm


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