--- title: "Should you Forward that Email? Maybe not. | DuoCircle" description: "We forward business emails all day, every day and never give it another thought. But maybe we should." image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png" canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/blog/email-forwarding/should-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not/" --- Quick Answer Forwarding a private email without the sender's permission may violate common-law copyright, according to a University of Arkansas law professor who argues that authors of personal correspondence retain property rights in their private expression that the federal Copyright Act does not preempt. The exception: if the original author CC'd a third party, they have already relinquished that control. Practically, most routine business forwarding is fine, but when the original author would consider the content private, get permission first. For high-volume forwarding, DuoCircle Email Forwarding handles redirection, forwarding groups by domain, unlimited aliases, TLS, and spam and virus filtering at no extra cost across Exchange, Office 365, and Google Workspace. Share [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Femail-forwarding%2Fshould-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not%2F "Share on LinkedIn") [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Should%20you%20Forward%20that%20Email%3F%20Maybe%20not.&url=undefined%2Fblog%2Femail-forwarding%2Fshould-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not%2F "Share on X/Twitter") [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=undefined%2Fblog%2Femail-forwarding%2Fshould-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not%2F "Share on Facebook") [ ](https://reddit.com/submit?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Femail-forwarding%2Fshould-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not%2F&title=Should%20you%20Forward%20that%20Email%3F%20Maybe%20not. "Share on Reddit") [ ](mailto:?subject=Should%20you%20Forward%20that%20Email%3F%20Maybe%20not.&body=Check out this article: undefined%2Fblog%2Femail-forwarding%2Fshould-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not%2F "Share via Email") ![Forward that Email](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/09/What-is-a-DMARC_-6827.jpg) We forward business emails all day, every day and never give it another thought. But maybe we should. [According](https://www.newswise.com/articles/privacy-law-professor-concludes-forwarding-of-private-email-without-permission-violates-rights) to a University of Arkansas law professor, _it could violate copyright law_. “_In a major article examining the strength of legal arguments to protect private email expression_, a University of Arkansas law professor concludes that, based on the historical common law, today’s Federal Copyright Act **does not protect** someone from copying and distributing another person’s private expression, _which means that forwarding email without permission of the sender may be against the law_. Going back more than 250 years, the common law recognized that authors of personal correspondence hold absolute property rights in their private expression,” said Ned Snow, assistant professor of law. [![e-mail forwarding](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/09/sendgrid-alternative-1975.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/09/sendgrid-alternative-1975.jpg) Snow further explains, “Although _the Copyright Act has been construed to preempt common law rights of expression and_ _thereby deprive authors of privacy, there is no such preemption_. Under the Constitution, private expression falls outside the scope of expression that is subject to federal regulation. The routine practice of [e-mail forwarding](/email/email-forwarding) violates principles of common-law copyright regardless of what the Federal Copyright Act says.” The one caveat? “_If an author carbon-copies a third party, the author relinquishes this control and forfeits privacy._” So, should you stop forwarding emails? Probably not. The real issue is will forwarding the email make the original author feel that their privacy has been violated? In most business email communications, the answer is no. But you should still use your best judgement and if you’re not certain, all you have to do is ask. What if you have to forward a lot of email every month? You should get a lot of permission, and then you should use [DuoCircle](/email/email-forwarding). It’s [email forwarding](/email/email-forwarding) minus the headaches. [![DuoCircle Infographic](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2024/06/Email-Forwarding-Services-Statistics.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2024/06/Email-Forwarding-Services-Statistics.jpg) _Not only does DuoCircle email forwarding redirect emails to an alternate address, but you can also set up forwarding groups, segmented by domain_. And all DuoCircle plans come with spam and virus protection at no extra cost. Since it is cloud-based, _DuoCircle email forwarding integrates seamlessly with all the major email providers_ including Exchange, Office365 and G-Suite. Other features include unlimited email aliases, **TLS encryption**, activity logs, smart quarantine, CVS bulk import and 24/7 customer support. _Think before you forward_. But once you decide to do it, let DuoCircle handle it for you. ![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg) Brad Slavin General Manager General Manager at DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across the email security portfolio. ## Secure your email infrastructure Protect, authenticate, and deliver. Contact our team to find the right solution. [Contact Sales](/contact/) [Explore Products](/products/) ## Related Articles [ Forwarding 1m Alumni Email Forwarding Service Nov 3, 2018 ](/blog/email-forwarding/alumni-email-forwarding-service/)[ Forwarding 2m Email Forwarding: Easy to do but not Always Smart to do Jul 30, 2019 ](/blog/email-forwarding/email-forwarding-easy-to-do-but-not-always-smart-to-do/)[ Forwarding 2m The One Time You Absolutely Do Not Want to Use Email Forwarding Aug 21, 2019 ](/blog/email-forwarding/the-one-time-you-absolutely-do-not-want-to-use-email-forwarding/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}],"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/company/duocircle","https://x.com/duocirclellc","https://www.facebook.com/duocirclellc","https://www.g2.com/products/phish-protection-by-duocircle/reviews","https://github.com/duocircle","https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/duocircle-llc"],"contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","url":"https://support.duocircle.com"},"knowsAbout":["Email Security","Email Authentication","SPF","DKIM","DMARC","Phishing Protection","Spam Filtering","SMTP Relay","Email Deliverability","Email Forwarding"]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}]}} ``` ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","headline":"Should you Forward that Email? Maybe not.","description":"We forward business emails all day, every day and never give it another thought. But maybe we should.","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/email-forwarding/should-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not/","datePublished":"2020-09-13T00:35:07.000Z","dateModified":"2025-05-23T12:45:11.000Z","dateCreated":"2020-09-13T00:35:07.000Z","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://www.duocircle.com/authors/brad-slavin/#person","name":"Brad Slavin","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/authors/brad-slavin/","jobTitle":"General Manager","description":"Brad Slavin runs DuoCircle, the company behind DMARC Report, AutoSPF, Phish Protection, and Mailhop. His focus is product strategy, customer relationships, and the commercial and compliance side of email authentication (DPAs, SLAs, enterprise procurement).","image":"https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg","knowsAbout":["Email Security Strategy","SaaS Product Management","Enterprise Compliance","Customer Success","Email Deliverability Business"],"worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com"},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradslavin"]},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}]},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/email-forwarding/should-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not/"},"articleSection":"email-forwarding","keywords":"","wordCount":383,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/09/What-is-a-DMARC_-6827.jpg","caption":"Forward that Email","width":900,"height":600},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".answer-block","h1"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Forwarding"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Should you Forward that Email? Maybe not.","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/email-forwarding/should-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not/"}]}] ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Forwarding","item":"https://www.duocircle.comundefined"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Should you Forward that Email? Maybe not.","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/email-forwarding/should-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not/"}]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","headline":"Should you Forward that Email? Maybe not.","description":"We forward business emails all day, every day and never give it another thought. But maybe we should.","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/email-forwarding/should-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not/","datePublished":"2020-09-13T00:35:07.000Z","dateModified":"2025-05-23T12:45:11.000Z","dateCreated":"2020-09-13T00:35:07.000Z","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://www.duocircle.com/authors/brad-slavin/#person","name":"Brad Slavin","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/authors/brad-slavin/","jobTitle":"General Manager","description":"Brad Slavin runs DuoCircle, the company behind DMARC Report, AutoSPF, Phish Protection, and Mailhop. His focus is product strategy, customer relationships, and the commercial and compliance side of email authentication (DPAs, SLAs, enterprise procurement).","image":"https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg","knowsAbout":["Email Security Strategy","SaaS Product Management","Enterprise Compliance","Customer Success","Email Deliverability Business"],"worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com"},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradslavin"]},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}]},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/email-forwarding/should-you-forward-that-email-maybe-not/"},"articleSection":"email-forwarding","keywords":"","wordCount":383,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/09/What-is-a-DMARC_-6827.jpg","caption":"Forward that Email","width":900,"height":600},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".answer-block","h1"]}} ```