The thrust of the above was that a poor, sole, FAQ maintainer would
have no practical say over a violation of copyright. No resources,
no law suit.
But the Internet community is very large, integrated and
knowledgeable, and would just love to hop onto a test case and
disintegrate a violator. I doubt that one of us would be ignored if
we posted "I saw my copyrighted FAQ [with all the notices included] in
a bookstore and I have to sue".
Furthermore, I think it would be so cut and dry that an attorney
would love to take this on pro bonum.
Please ... if you are reading this and thinking about ripping off
copyrighted materials, don't get caught. Remember John (?) Morris;
the "worm" guy got slapped down hard. I think blatent copyright
theft off the Net would get prosecuted.
It isn't *that* much work to ask permission, and that's the law anyway.
(btw, I'm not implying that Mr. Prechelt's letter is anything but
worthwhile. Those publishers might have been thinking along the
same lines, and I welcome the opportunity to point out (to everyone) that
our ownership is not without teeth.)
Tom Baker
C/Unix consultant
tombaker@world.std.com
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