Re: Not a CD-ROM, but a book

Paul Johnson (paul.johnson@gmrc.gecm.com)
Fri, 12 May 1995 08:16:08 +0100

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> This is I noticed a new book titled "Best of the Net" "by" Seth Grodin
> (sp?) in the stores. It seemed to consist of two page spreads on
> various topic interests, with a few paragraphs of original text, but
> the bulk being material taken directly from FAQs (at least in my case
> for Comics).

This strikes me as seriously illegal. They have exerpted material
without permission and given no real credit. With the CD-ROM there
was a good argument that archival of that sort was part of the normal
Usenet distribution. This argument does not apply to a book where the
"best" bits have been exerpted.

Was the sci.skeptic FAQ there? If so, what sections?

What is the publisher's name and address?

Should we take collective action over this?

> It's not as strong a matter as a CD-ROM including the entire text of a
> FAQ; one could probably make a case under fair use for the amount of
> text from any single FAQ included.

Depends. I gather that "fair use" tends to be decided by a bunch of
precedents rather than any firm rules. They might try to sneak it in
under the "for review" concept, but if they have quoted substantial
chunks, and especially if they have added little themselves, then I
would not have thought that would work.

Paul.

-- Paul Johnson | GEC-Marconi Ltd is not responsible for my opinions. | +44 245 473331 ext 3245 +-----------------------------------------------------+

CHANGE OF ADDRESS: <paul.johnson@gmrc.gecm.com>. <gec-mrc.co.uk> dies soon.

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