Re: Apple II Reference Manual ("Red Book")

[CUTblakeney@home.com (Jeff Blakeney)]

On 16 Apr 2000 08:51:36 +0200, pausch@saafNOSPAM.se (Paul Schlyter)
wrote:

>So why not let the copyright holder worry about this then?

All I'm doing is pointing out that making it available without the
copyright holders permission is illegal.  The only reason the
conversation has continued is because people keep trying to say it
isn't illegal or trying to justify distributing it illegally or
something similar.

>OF COURSE you have the full right, and my sympathy, to defend the
>copyright of any of your work.  But the "Red Book" isn't your work,
>so why do you worry about it?

That is the problem.  I shouldn't have to defend ANY copyrights as
people should respect those copyrights.  After all, that is the whole
point of copyrighting something.  So that everyone will know that you
own it and want to retain ownership of it.  Until the copyright is
released or expires, it is still in effect legally.

>Also: suppose your copyrighted work is some 20+ years old, and that
>it lost all its commercial value some 10+ years ago and it would be
>very unlikely to ever regain any commercial value.

Commercial value isn't a factor.  That product is the property of
someone else and is still protected by copyright law regardless of
whether it is worth anything.

>Also suppose that
>if someone would approach you with a request of buying your work,
>then your response would be "Sorry, but we no longer sell that
>stuff!"  (if someone would ask Apple Computer about buying some Apple
>II stuff, a response along these lines would be likely).  Given these
>circumstances, suppose someone "illegally" made copies of your work,
>and you later learnt about it.  There would be no economic damage to
>you since you no longer sold your work.  Would you still bother to
>sue?

Depends on the product and the situation.  If it were something that I
wanted to retain the rights to then I would take legal action if the
situation couldn't be handled in another manner.

However, if you ignore the copyright owners decision and make copies
available, you would be doing so illegally and that is the point I
keep trying to make.

>In short: do you defend copyrights because they are of some real
>value?  Or do you defend it as a principle in absurdum, even in
>those cases where the copyright has lost all its value?

I simply point out that breaking a copyright, regardless of how old,
is illegal.

>OK, if you're so deeply concerned about this, why don't you find the
>correct person to contact, and then ask that person?  If you did
>obtain permission, in the 100% proper legal way, to have the Red Book
>posted, you will have done this ng a great service.

I'm not deeply concerned about it.  I just want people to know that it
is illegal.  If a product is made available online and there is no
mention of the fact that it is in violation of its copyright, then how
are users who stumble across it or have it pointed out to them to know
that they are breaking the law if they download it.  Not everyone in
the world is comfortable with breaking laws regardless of whether they
are likely to get prosecuted so you would be doing them a disservice
by not warning them.  I simply help provide that warning.

>If you don't want to do this, but merely wants to make access to the
>contents of the Red Book more difficult,

I don't want to make access to the contents of the Red Book more
difficult, I simply want people to know that it is illegal.

>I think you can spend your
>energies on something more constructive.  For instance, defending
>the copyrights of your own work (and of course also to sell your
>work to people who are seriously interested in buying it).

Again, I shouldn't have to defend my copyrights.

By the way, this is one of the reasons I haven't spent much time
trying to get things reclassified.  I am a programmer and can
contribute much more by spending my free time working on my Apple II
programs.  I'll leave reclassification efforts to others.

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| Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro on Delphi     |
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