Can we forget about lawsuits? It's this mentality that will prove
to be the ruin of America and currently makes us the laughing stock
of the world (I've been around--I've seen 'em laugh--it makes me
sick to my stomach). What will be the result? Instead of everybody
getting something, everybody will be losing something.
Off Soapbox:
If you write Walnut Creek CD-ROM and ask for a free CD-ROM you'll be
getting more than what you'd get in a class-action suit anyways or
what you'd get in royalties (about $0.003 per disc based on $32
purchase price * 10% royalty / 1000 FAQ maintainers). Personally, I
was happy to see that my FAQs were getting the added exposure.
PROPOSAL:
Terry, perhaps you could reword your excellent prose a little to
explain to Walnut Creek that they are treading on thin ice. You
could speak on our behalf and suggest to them that they should be
respecting the copyright of the FAQ maintainers.
At best, they should contact each FAQ maintainer individually for
permission and a license to publish new FAQs as they become
available. Furthermore, they should automatically mail a new CD-ROM
when one is released. I wonder if their sales of this CD-ROM would
make this feasible (considering the cost to make a CD-ROM ($5) *
1000 FAQs == $5000 royalty cost minimum).
Second best might be contact each FAQ maintainer individually for
permission and a license to publish new FAQs as they become
available. One CD-ROM would be mailed to each FAQ maintainer per
year.
Last choice, they should contact each FAQ maintainer individually
for permission and a license to publish new FAQs as they become
available. They would mail just one CD-ROM to each FAQ maintainer.
Please reply directly to me. I'll summarize if necessary. This
message was designed to quench another barrage of letters, not
promote one.
Bill Wohler <wohler@newt.com> Maintainer of comp.mail.mh and
President, Newt Software news.software.nn FAQs.
UNIX, Motif, networking consulting Say it with MIME.
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