Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York

Re: Publishing private e-mails

There's an inferred copyright and it belongs to the sender (not the receiver) of the e-mail. While removing names may reduce the likelihood of exposure to a defamation suit (though it would not completely eliminate the possibility if the information published by you is defamatory and the description of the person defamed is readily identifiable to a third party), eliminating names does nothing with respect to an infringement of copyright claim.

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Re: Publishing private e-mails

Yes, email messages just like letters may contain copyrightable material and you need the authors' permission to use such material. No, copyright does not depend on registration with the Copyright Office and exists from the moment a work (text in this case) is created. Newly created works are protected for the life of author plus at least 70 years so waiting just a few years won't help. Clearing copyrights (obtaining reproduction/reprint permissions and licenses) can only be done with the authors of messages (the original copyright owners or their assignees) and not with those who forwarded you such messages.

Removing the names of persons mentioned in the messages may or may not minimize the risk of legal liability for defamation or invasion of privacy. This sort of thing is very fact-specific and requires legal analysis.

Remember that if you ever try to publish your book commercially, your publisher would require you to represent to him that you have all the appropriate legal rights to your manuscript so doing copyright clearance work now will likely save you time and effort later.

The above reply is in the nature of general information, is not legal advice and should not be relied on as such.