Re: Debian HOWTO
At 05:05 PM 9/2/98 -0500, Kathy Miles wrote:
>I would like to make this book
>available for anyone to read but don't like the idea that someone could
>rip it off and sell it themselves. Any suggestions or solutions to this
>concern would be appreciated.
Perhaps your copyright page could be a license for electronic copies only
and expressly forbid paper copies, other that single copies for personal
use. Specifically, forbid multiple printed copies and photocopier copies.
Specifically, forbid the sale of copies. I'd recommend seeing a lawyer
about something like this unless you can find a pre-existing license that
meets your needs.
For full protection in the U.S., you might want to go through the real
copyright registration process for the following reasons. Title 17 of the
United States Code, Section 408. Copyright registration in general
<http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/title17/4-408.html> says "(a) Registration
Permissive. <snip> Such registration is not a condition of copyright
protection." This means you are still afforded copyright protection even
if you don't register your work.
However, Section 412. Registration as prerequisite to certain remedies for
infringement <http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/title17/4-412.html> says "In
any action under this title, other than an action brought for a violation
of the rights of the author under section 106A(a) or an action instituted
under section 411(b), no award of statutory damages or of attorney's fees,
as provided by sections 504 and 505, shall be made for (1) any infringement
of copyright in an unpublished work commenced before the effective date of
its registration; or (2) any infringement of copyright commenced after
first publication of the work and before the effective date of its
registration, unless such registration is made within three months after
the first publication of the work. This means you get the chance to
recover your costs for prosecuting infringement.
I am not a lawyer so I may not have the correct understanding. I do not
know if this loss of remedy for infringement is really a serious issue for
you but some people aren't aware of this nuance. I intend no offense if I
am offering ideas that are against the Debian cultural norm. I am still a
newbie here.
In full consideration of the situation, I have made the personal choice to
copyleft all my creative works under the GPL and I generally recommend it
as the best way to maximize the co-creation, collaborative process (IMHO).
<SOAPBOX> I seek copyleft protection for all Works that may be copyrighted
under "Title 17 of the United States Code, Section 102. Subject matter of
copyright: In general" <http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/title17/1-102.html>.
I seek GPL coverage for the digital form and the physical form.</SOAPBOX>
These are some thoughts, hope they help.
--
Copyright (c) 1998 Lyno Sullivan; this digital object is free and
may be copied, modified and distributed under the GNU General
Public License (GPL) at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html and
it comes with absolutely NO WARRANTY; mailto:lynosull@maroon.tc.umn.edu
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