Re: Who wins?

Paola Kathuria (inetuk@arcglade.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 18 May 1995 16:39:25 GMT

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j kahila wrote:
> On Tue, 16 May 1995, Peter J. Kappesser wrote:
>
> > Here's a thought: Someone who finds their FAQ, or substantial portions
> > thereof, published somewhere without compensation, could send an itemized
> > bill to the "Accounts Payable" department of the publisher. Include the
> > title of the book, author's/editor's name, and something like "Consideration
> > for Material Excerpted Without Permission from Blurfl FAQ -- 1000 words,
> > pages 37-39: $500.00." If they challenge it, send a copy of your FAQ. If
> > they ignore it, dun them three times and turn it over to a collection
> > agency. In any case the editor's gonna have some 'splainin' to do.
>
> An appealing idea, but the second part at least wouldn't work. You don't
> have a legally binding receivable that can be sold to a collection agency.
>
> One of the difficulties here is that FAQs are a free good under the
> current setup. They are available to anyone who has access, at only the
> cost of time and connection. The CD-ROM and book folks will claim that
> they "add value" by putting a bunch of stuff under one cover, and it is
> *that* value they are charging for.

I suggest you read Brad Templeton's FAQ on the 10 Myths of Copyright to
dispel some of the myths being bandied about (again) in this debate.

As I have already related here before, one of 3 FAQs I maintain appeared
in several magazines earlier this year without my permission and without
any credit to me. I mailed one and eventually received compensation in
terms of payment according to their per-page rate. I also paid a couple
of hundred pounds in legal fees for a solicitor to write letters to the
other two publishers and to write me a proper copyright notice (which I
haven't used yet) and, as a result, I received an apology and
compensation which just covered my legal fees.

I'm currently working myself up to writing an article about copyright
on the net for publication. If anyone has any anecdotes/issues about
copyright that they want to mail me, I'd be happy to include them if
I can.

Paola

--
UK Internet Lists - http://www.limitless.co.uk/inetuk/

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