[pct-l] Plagiarism (Was: tips and tricks - problems.)

[kbrandt at cats.ucsc.edu (Karl Brandt)]

That's hardly the environment of mutual respect we ought to be having here
on the PCT-L. Essentially, it's the same logic that mountain bikers use to
ride on the PCT. "It's a stupid rule so I'll just ignore it and you can
try and catch me."

David quite innocently infringed on some list member's copyrights. I don't
think he meant to, his document read as if he had written the whole thing
where much of it was cut-and-pasted from the list. When this was privately
pointed out, David quite nicely rectified it. I don't understand the silly
talk of litigation and lawyers.

FWIW, there are simple ways to avoid infringements like this. If you copy
something verbatim, take the time to attribute it to its original author.
Alternatively, rewrite it in your own words.

-Karl

On Fri, 5 Mar 2004, dude wrote:

> I say post it and let the complainers hire a lawyer, pay the filing fee
> to file a suit, and waste hours upon hours of their valuable time, if
> they are serious.  Its not like anyone is making money from this, and
> certainly anyone filing a suit would have a very difficult time proving
> actual damages.  How is any person harmed by David's document?
>
> If David doesnt want to post it, I would be happy to post it and
> whoever compains can have fun suing me.  I don't think that the
> economics of the case make it worth anyone's while to actually file a
> suit.  Besides, the damages of such a suit would very likely be a Cease
> and Disist order and the usual copyright remedy which is to pay the
> copyright holder 100% of all profits made from the violation.  well,
> you can guess how much that is. :-)
>
> Alot of people will talk about jumping up and suing someone, but very
> few people will actually do it, especially if they do not have a
> limitless suppy of funding to support litigation.
>
> peace,
> dude