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

[pausch@saafNOSPAM.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <38f91a64.766454143@news>,
Jeff Blakeney <CUTblakeney@home.com> wrote:
 
> On 15 Apr 2000 09:16:08 +0200, pausch@saafNOSPAM.se (Paul Schlyter)
> wrote:
> 
>> Are you the copyright holder?  If not, why are you so concerned about
>> this?  Let Apple deal with this, OK?  Personally I believe Apple
>> have better things to do than to chase people who are interested
>> in their obsolete software.....
> 
> No, I'm not the copyright holder of that particular work
 
So why not let the copyright holder worry about this then?
 
> but I do have my own copyrighted stuff and plan to have many more
> in the future.  Because of this, I would like to see copyrights get
> a little more respect as I don't want people stealing my stuff.
 
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?
 
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.  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?
 
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?
 
 
>> If you still feel concerned about this, don't bother the ng with
>> anymore posts about it.  Instead contact Woz directly -- he wrote that
>> book.
> 
> I have no idea who owns the copyright to the Red Book so I'm not sure
> Steve Wozniak would even be the correct person to contact.
 
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.
 
If you don't want to do this, but merely wants to make access to the
contents of the Red Book more difficult, 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).
 
 
-- 
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