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View Full Version : A THOUSAND MARBLES - A HAM STORY


k7aro
08-13-2003, 07:27 PM
This post was deleted since it was a flagrant violation of the Copyright Law of the United States. The person who posted it refused to admit his mistake and, instead, made a "flippant" post later in the thread.

Therefore, since it is the policy of QRZ.com not to knowingly violate the Copyright Law of the United States, I have been forced to delete the post.

The person who made the post was advised in a private E-Mail about the situation and chose to not only ignore the warning, but to reply in such a manner to to compound his offense.

As such, I have chosen to delete his original remarks and to "lock down" this thread. If the person who posted the original thread continues to violate the Copyright Law of the United States then he WILL be banned from the site.

The same thing goes for others. It is NOT a violation of the Copyright Law to excerpt portions (not the entire) of copyrighted items so long as it is indicated that the information was excepted from a copyrighted item and that the source and original author are listed. This is known as "fair use". But, to quote something either in its entire form, or by a significant portion WITHOUT the express consent of the copyright holder, or by not revealing the source, is definitely illegal.

For the matter of record, with the Bono Amendment that was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States several months ago, it now takes 95 years before any copyrighted item becomes part of the public domain. Also, everything is automatically copyrighted when it is created by the original author (or photographer, etc.) and it is NOT a requirement that the information be registered. All that registering does is to decrease the effort required to gain up to trebel ("triple") damages from the person(s) who violated the copyright law. Those are in addition to all legal and court fees due to the litigation.

Prior to the Bono Amendment, and persistant to the Berne Copyright Convention, the period for copyrights in the United States was 75 years. Although the original copyrights were for 37 years with the provision for renewal, they were extended by Title 17 of the United States Code in 1994 to 75 years.

Posting on the Internet does NOT place an item into the public domain. Posting on the Internet is like any other publication method including magazines, recordings, newspapers, etc. It is ILLEGAL to take items from the Internet for further publication without the permission of the copyright holder unless the information is in the public domain (published before 1908). You can use quotations, etc., so long as it falls into the "free use" provision. But, those only apply to small quotations, etc., and the source MUST be given.

Even the material contained within private E-Mails is technically copyrighted by the original sender and cannot be repeated without his/her specific permission in terms of exact wording, text styles, etc.

Anyway, a word to the wise: Please don't post material that you know to be copyrighted unless it falls into the "fair use" arena and, if you do this, please post the source and original author.

Glen, K9STH
One of the QRZ.com moderators

KD7WHQ
08-13-2003, 11:36 PM
That's good.
Printing now, photocopying tomorrow..

08-13-2003, 11:42 PM
Eric, just get a job in engineering, and you will "know the unbounded joy of not having to be at work" a lot more often...

The bad news is that you'll need a lot more marbles !

Jean

ai4ep
08-14-2003, 12:16 AM
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif great story makes you think ! I like it !! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

w5alt
08-14-2003, 12:42 AM
Don't you think you should at least credit the magazine you got that out of? I would think the author deserves credit, too. What you did is at least plagarism, maybe violation of copyright.

Not cool at all. It isn't my work, but it really pisses me off when someone plagarizes my writing.

K9STH
08-14-2003, 01:46 AM
If he did get it out of a magazine and not off the air as he said, then he should quote the magazine. But, as for copyright infringement, a short exerpt comes under the heading of "fair use" so long as the source is quoted. Now, if the other station was quoting an article, then that station should have quoted the source. However, it would be farily unlikely that RUH would have knowledge that the source was other than the station who sent it if the quotation was indeed from someone else.

Now, amateur radio, like broadcast radio, is not protected under the security in communications provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 as ammended (basically 47 CFR). Therefore, anything that you "hear" (includes CW, data, etc.) over amateur radio can be repeated without fear of prosecution by the Federal Government or by private litigation (in most cases).

Now, having been a professional author for over 40 years, I too am very "touchy" about copyrights (which, by the way, were extended to 95 years by the Bono Amendment that was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States several months ago instead of the 75 years authorized by the Berne Convention). People think that just because something appears on the Internet that copyrights do not apply. This is completely false. There are very specific actions that must be taken for any copyrighted material (and this includes photographic, data, written, or recorded material) to pass into the public domain before the copyright period is up. Also, you DO NOT have to register an item for it to be copyrighted. Everything is copyrighted from the time that it is created. All that registering does is to make it somewhat easier to recover treble damages from those who violate the copyright laws. Treble means "triple" and that is in addition to all legal and court costs (all lawyers, etc., are paid by the copyright violator).

You can copyright all sorts of things for a single filing fee. All that you have to do is to put everything in a single volume called, for example, "The Works of So and So - 2003" (putting in your legal name for "so and so") and send the requisite copies to the Library of Congress. It doesn't matter if what you register is a single page or thousands of pages, the filing fee is the same.

Anyway, there is a publication available from the Government Printing Office called Circular 92 Copyright Law Of The United States of America. This is written in "plain English" and is therefore very easy to understand. Frankly, I need to get a newer copy than the one that I have! There have been a couple of very important things changed lately (primarily the Bono Amendment) that I need the actual wording on.

Glen, K9STH

w5alt
08-14-2003, 02:13 AM
That was originally written by Jeffery Davis, N9AVG, and is the introduction to his book. I have also seen it published in one of the ham magazines - don't remember which one - with the statement that it was fictional.

http://www.inspirationpeak.com/shortstories/onethousandmarbles.html

On the web sites it clearly states the copyright holder and that it used with permission. Posted here as an original work, it is both plagarism and copyright violation.

I also have published a few things over the past 25 years and am familiar with copyright laws and ethics. This violates both. I would hope that QRZ.COM doesn't condone that.

73,

K9STH
08-14-2003, 02:53 AM
Walt:

With the information that you posted I agree that there has been a violation of copyright since the entire article was quoted and not just an excerpt.

I'll give KD7RUH until tomorrow to delete what he has posted. Otherwise, I'll have to delete it. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't understand the copyright law. But, if he, or anyone else persists on posting copyrighted material either without permission of the copyright holder if the quotation is either the complete article or doesn't meet the "free use" which is allowed for small quotations, then appropriate action will be taken including banning from posting on this site. However, the "free use" still must be accompanied by the listing of the source and original author.

If an entire document is quoted, or a significant portion thereof, then a signed release is needed from the copyright holder and such MUST be stated along with the quotation and a listing of the source.

Glen, K9STH
One of the QRZ.com moderators

k7aro
08-14-2003, 02:27 PM
Holy cow folks...relax...no one is going to die...well unless...nevermind....any how...I got that story in an email. I'm sure you've had emails before and know what I'm talking about. So chill out before you pass out. Guess this is why I avoid posting here.