Re: German CD-ROM (Was: Re: Addressing home-made adapter cards)

[joko@crl.com (Joe Kohn)]

 >In my opinion it is dishonest and lazy that they aren't willing to take
 >the time to even follow the wishes of the author of the programs.

As a distributor of disks of freeware/shareware and public domain software,
I have found that simply asking permission of shareware authors to include
their software on disk collections is the absolute best policy.

As Richard rightfully points out, his shareware is copyrighted and that
means that he can restrict distribution in any way he cares to. If he only
wants people who own cats to distribute his software, that is his right.

I have found that shareware authors are generally more than eager to have
their work distributed worldwide. But, some have a problem with people
charging $5 or $10 or even more in some cases for disks containing
shareware. By copyrighting their work, shareware authors retain control
over who can, and who can't, distribute their software.

So, there are 2 problems...

Shareware authors who wish to limit distribution but who are not clear
about who may, or who may not, distribute their software. A perfect example
of this concerns user groups. Some software says, "give freely, but do not
sell." And, the wording of that message does indeed LEGALLY preclude user
groups from asking a buck or two for a disk with that software on it.

What can a shareware author do?

Quite simply, they need to be very specific about re-distribution. If it's
OK with them for user groups to re-distribute their software, they need to
say so. Or, they need to say something like "disks containing this software
may be distributed just as long as no more than $x is charged." If they
don't want their software to be included on CD-ROM collections, they need
to say so. In short, copyrights are for the protection of the author. If
the author does not want some people or organizations to distribute their
software, they should say so.

The other problem is caused by distributors of shareware disks not asking
permission. If you always ask for permission, you will never run into
problems later. By not asking permission, you could be sued for copyright 
violations. It has happened, and in every single case that I have heard 
of, the court has awarded damages to shareware authors whose work was 
re-distributed without their permission.

Obviously, aside from the legality of it, there are other benefits to 
asking for permission. Foremost is getting the most up-to-date versions. 
Asking permission also shows respect. And, quite often, it can lead to 
unexpected goodies. If I hadn't gotten friendly with the FTA and asked 
them for permission to re-distribute their software, the IIGS world might 
never have seen such goodies as Bulla, Blue Helmet, Modulae source code, etc.

OTOH, when Jason Harper withdrew SHR.Convert from the shareware distribution 
channels, I asked him why he had. He told me he was irate that I was the 
only person on earth to ask him for his permission to distribute that 
software. 

Before flaming a shareware author, try walking a few feet in his sneakers.

Joe Kohn
Publisher, Shareware Solutions II

  [Shareware Solutions II is a bi-monthly newsletter about the Apple II]
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