Copyright

garfield at pilgrimhouse.com garfield at pilgrimhouse.com
Sat Jun 13 16:53:09 GMT 1998


On Fri, 12 Jun 1998 23:22:00 -0500, dave.williams at chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave
Williams) wrote:

>-> Well if the addresses for the publisher are no longer valid, and the
>-> publisher is no longer a publisher, since the magazine is no longer
>-> in print, where does one stand on coping things..
>-> If you actually know, please let me know, no quessing please..
>
> Even if the copyright holder cannot be contacted, the copyright is
>still valid until its term runs out.
>
> In this case, the copyright is held by John De Armond, presently
>residing in Cleveland, Tennessee.  He's in the phone book.

OK, I gotta drop in for a sec, cuz since my family's in book publishing,
I might have a couple thots to offer. First off, a copyright is an asset
that can be passed along to family members or sold to someone. In any
case, someone DOES own it. So, YES YES, it's true that the mag's demise
doesn't obviate the copyright, nor does difficulty in finding the owner.

But TWO things to remember practically about stuff like this. The
copyright laws are there to prevent someone from *profiting* without
authorization from the copying of a work. This of course extends to
possible damages to sales of the work, by someone making costfree copies
available. Especially in the case of books, which are expensive to
produce because you have to do them in large lot sizes, even if the work
has languished in obscurity for years, still the rights must be
preserved, cuz it may take that long for demand to "pent up" to the
point of justifying another run. But practically speaking, magazine
articles of a defunct publication can hardly be imagined financially
damaging to the copyright holder if copied.

Having said that, the ONE thing I wanted to mention to yous guys outside
the trade, is that you will hardly EVER be refused permission to copy,
or even in this case to make copies available to a wider audience, IF
you ASK!!! Now that the guy's location is known, JUST CALL HIM. It's
almost a certainty that one phone call and it's a done deal. He'd likely
be flattered that his work is STILL of value to the public, and would
probably grant you permission to POST the thing in the diy_efi ftp site!
Most publishers are so elated that you even ASK them permission, that
out of respect for YOUR respect, they'll gladly grant you permission.
That's been my experience, and on our eXperimental Aviation ftp site, we
have quite a few items that I had to ask permission to post; I've NEVER
been refused EVER. So for pity sake, SOMEONE familiar with this
gizmo/article CALL the guy and make his day! You'll be a hero for
running the gauntlet, you'll have the copies worry-free, and he'll be
tickled by the "voice from the past". Win-win all the way around.

Gar




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