Re: Ok, they "stole" my FAQ. Now what?

Chris Lewis (clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca)
Thu, 7 Apr 1994 09:17:51 -0400

Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
Next message: David Barr: "Re: gas for the FAQ fire."
Previous message: Bob Rusbasan: "Re: Your FAQ on CDROM"
Next in thread: Russell Nelson: "Register your copyright!"
Reply: Russell Nelson: "Register your copyright!"

On Apr 7, 6:32, mathew wrote:
} Subject: Re: Ok, they "stole" my FAQ. Now what?
} In article <m0pocsa-000IDfC@crynwr>, Russell Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com> wrote:
} >The right? No. But if your copyright is not registered, and you
} >can't prove that you lost money from the infringement, then you have
} >NO WAY to use the law to stop anyone from copying your work (unless
} >you have deep pockets).

} Ahem. Can we PLEASE remember that this is an international mailing
} list?

He's wrong about the US too. As the US is now a signatory to the Berne
convention, the author of a work controls the copying of the work and
can sue for damages whether or not the copyright is registered. Not
registering the copyright merely limits the amount and types of damages
the author can get.

While I'm not against the copying of my FAQs in CDROMs, the real danger
as I see it is that by continuing to ignore this issue, FAQ authors are
establishing a precident of their own. By refusing to assert copyright
rights at least in so far as to require permission, they (we) run the
risk of losing copyright altogether, which could result in it being
more difficult to do anything when something considerably worse
happens. Ie: someone claims ownership of the FAQ, removes the
authorship, changes the contents in a way that the real author doesn't
want, and sells it as an individual work. Of course this is unlikely with
most FAQs. That is irrelevant.

More than anything else, it is important to assert ownership and control.
When a CDROM publisher asks first, they're acknowledging your copyright.
And I will permit the copying. By not asking, the CDROM publisher is
implicitly denying your copyright, and by not asserting control, the
author is agreeing and is eroding the right they have to control it in
future. This is bad precident.

I will be asking to have my FAQs removed from the CDROM.

-- 
Chris Lewis: _Una confibula non sat est_
Phone: Canada 613 832-0541  Ferret list: ferret-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Latest psroff: FTP://ftp.uunet.ca/distrib/chris_lewis/psroff3.0pl17/*
Latest hp2pbm: FTP://ftp.uunet.ca/distrib/chris_lewis/hp2pbm/*

Next message: David Barr: "Re: gas for the FAQ fire."
Previous message: Bob Rusbasan: "Re: Your FAQ on CDROM"
Next in thread: Russell Nelson: "Register your copyright!"
Reply: Russell Nelson: "Register your copyright!"

[ Usenet Hypertext FAQ Archive | Search Mail Archive | Authors | Usenet ]
[ 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 ]