> As a result I am convinced that the so-called "professional" publishersHi Matthew:
> who screw it up are either lazy or are intentionally obfusticating to make it
> harder for others to reuse their material.
True. Either that, or we just made an honest mistake. . .
Not trying to be confrontational below, just trying to impress on you how serious the situation could be. It *seems* like you are thinking that it is not a very big deal.
The fact that you are now personally talking about the situation goes a lot to your credit! But it is (certainly) not my opinion that matters - or the opinion of anybody on this board either. But I'll explain one perspective so that you can see the situation through another's eyes.
Personally I like your products. But (from an OGL perspective) I liked your earlier books much bettter. Your OGC labelling was precisely clear and use and reuse of the material is extremely easy. But your later stuff uses an OGC designation that makes it essentialy impossible to use. So much so that it has occasioned more than one discussion on this list, with you guys held up as an example of "what not to do." THAT's not because you made a "mistake". You guys made a conscious decision to go from a very clear, very easy OGC declaration to one that virtually ensures that people have to come to you and get your permission to use *almost anything* from your books.
Then you go use tons of other people's OGC without ever bothering to contact them. Literally bucketloads - reprinting big books of OGC.
But you goofed a little - made an honest mistake. Now I don't know all the details. But what bothers me (personally) is not so much the situation as your reaction to it. Again, I don't know the details, but as we've been given to understand it your reaction consisted of a single post to a single board (out of literally hundreds of possible other venues). Maybe you could clarify. Did you guys do any of the following:
1. Did you contact the Netbook Council and the wronged authors directly?
2. Did you make up stickers or glue-ins to move existing product into compliance?
3. Did you notify your distributors that the product is not in compliance?
4. Did you issue a general press release?
5. Did you update your web site to prominently correct the oversight and give those authors credit for their work?
I guess the impression that we're getting out here is that you haven't done any of these things and / or you don't seem to realize how serious this could be. The material we are talking about doesn't belong to the Netbook Council. A simple email to a board doesn't really cover you. Satisfying the netbbook council does not cover you.
The fundamental reality is - and it is a harsh one - that until you correct the situation to each an every wronged author's satisfaction you are distributing (and profiting off of) a product that contains stolen material. You have NO LICENSE to distribute that material.
Just a perspective from the resident paranoid.
Thanks.
Faust
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