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

[tangent at meinfelder.com (Tangent)]

At 04:52 PM 3/5/2004 +0000, 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?

Yogi worked very hard on her book and hopes to use it to make money. 
Considering the amount of work she put for the price she is charging, the 
book is a bargain. Additionally, she graciously shares her work on the list 
to benefit others freely. Imagine you are a farmer. Most people think, 
"Well apples grow on trees, so there's no harm in taking dude's apples." 
However, there is; it would impact your sales.

I can't make the same claim as Yogi, but don't expect me to appreciate 
someone compiling work already freely available, but with the attributions 
removed.

>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. :-)

Have you considered you do not know the entire story? I would have been 
happy for an attribution and willing to let it slide otherwise. However, 
after I contacted David and before I got a response, the document was 
removed. The response was, "I don't have time to attribute the text." I 
even volunteered to help him do so, but the answer remained "no."

Also, while the idea that only a cease and desist order would be the result 
of actively stealing someone's work is nice, I suggest you look up 
"contributory infringement" and "vicarious liability:"

contributory infringement 
--  http://www.chillingeffects.org/piracy/question.cgi?QuestionID=268
vicarious liability 
--  http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/criminal_law/vicarious_liability.html

You're trying to help the hiking community and that's great. If you really 
feel so strongly, why not take David's document and work with him to create 
something able to pass for fair use? Or, better yet, consider making you 
own. With luck, after the hard work you put in, you may feel differently.

Tangent