> I have a copyright notice on my FAQ that prohibits commercial use
> without permission. I have not been asked for, nor granted permission
> for this FAQ to be used. I have not filed the copyright papers.
>
> If you care about your copyright, you'll register it. I have a
> PostScript program that prints out the copyright form. Just ask for
> it.
>
While registering a copyright is a good thing... it isn't really needed
if one doesn't plan to make money off their FAQ. But not registering it
doesn't give others the right to make money off of it either.
> What do I do now?
>
> There's not much you *can* do. You can fire off a demand letter to
> Walnut Creek demanding that they stop distributing your FAQ. This is
> a necessary prerequisite to sueing them. If they thought they had
> permission to distribute it, then they are an innocent infringer.
>
This is a good idea too. And there isn't much you can do by your self,
but banded together with others... I believe we can be much more powerful.
> And, given that you were distributing this document freely on the
> Internet, they can probably make a good case that they were free to
> copy it onto a CD. A CD is, after all, just a very large packet with
> a very long round-trip time.
>
It is not and that analogy wouldn't hold up in court, at least I hope
not. We are talking about people who have expressly written copyright
notices that forbid distribution other then on USENET and FTP. I think a
CD violates that...
> Can I sue? Should I?
>
> Wouldn't do much good. You can only recover actual damages. You'd
> have to show that you were making money from the FAQ in some other
> way, and that distribution of the FAQ on their CD-ROM deprived you of
> money.
I think you can recover $300 and attorney fees... as well. There is a new
copyright law about this and the copyright FAQ is unclear in this area.
But you could still register your copyright now and sue later =)
> Oh, and be careful about language like "stole". Theft is a criminal
> offense. Copyright violation is a civil offense.
>
> -russ <nelson@crynwr.com> ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav
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