[ARC5] [Milsurplus] Heathkit Manuals Stealing the fun out of the hobby...

[hwhall at compuserve.com]

> According to the law the copyright holder is entitled to "treble 
damages"
> (basically 3 times the value of the item) plus legal expenses.  
Remember, if you
> copy something and give it away you are still depriving the copyright 
holder of
> a sale and therefore there is definitely a "monentary loss".

It would appear that, unfortunately for this owner, he has bought a 
horse that already escaped the barn. This copyright has apparently not 
been defended for quite a few years, resulting in uncountable samizdat 
copies in circulation. It seems impractical of the new owner to expect 
to enforce it now against hundreds or thousands of private individuals 
who each may distribute a copy once every few years or so. In view of 
all the copies in circulation (originals + copies), the existing 
vendors of original manuals, and the shrinking pool of folks who even 
want one, it seems he  possesses a nearly unmarketable commodity.  I'd 
wish him luck with his copyright but I suspect he just likes to 
p***-off radio people. He certainly isn't creating a desire among 
Heathkit fans to buy anything from him at all.
--Wayne
  WB4OGM


-----Original Message-----
From: Glen Zook <gzook at yahoo.com>
To: arc5 at mailman.qth.net; Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net; John Hutchins 
<olegerityincj at austin.rr.com>
Sent: Tue, Feb 16, 2010 8:06 pm
Subject: Re: [ARC5] [Milsurplus] Heathkit Manuals Stealing the fun out 
of the hobby...


The problem is not with the original printed manuals.  You can sell, 
trade,
etc., them all you want.  The copyright law comes into effect when you 
make
copies (including electronic copies).  There is "fair use" but that 
does not
mean copying entire documents and distributing them (even if there is 
no
charge).  Even a library cannot generally copy an entire document.

According to the law the copyright holder is entitled to "treble 
damages"
(basically 3 times the value of the item) plus legal expenses.  
Remember, if you
copy something and give it away you are still depriving the copyright 
holder of
a sale and therefore there is definitely a "monentary loss".

Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com


--- On Tue, 2/16/10, John Hutchins <olegerityincj at austin.rr.com> wrote:

Stopping the free exchange of printed material not for sale, "Don 
Peterson" has
no right to stop such exchanges.  This type of exchange is no different 
than
what happens in a library; IMO as long as there is no sale;  Don,  has 
no damage
claim.  Again this is my opinion.  Sites like BAMA have precedent to 
stand on
but that takes time and money.  Not worth the legal headache.

When in need drop a line to the list I am sure a manual may just turn 
up in your
mail box



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