20,046 page doc archive still available

From: John Foust <jfoust_at_threedee.com>
Date: Tue Sep 7 18:32:58 2004

At 04:33 PM 9/7/2004, Steve Thatcher wrote:
>and we can expect the stuff you send him to magically appear on eBay for him to sell...

Well, of course. All these docs are probably in a no-man's-land
of unenforced copyrights belonging to long-dead companies.
It doesn't really give anyone the right to redistribute them.

What's the real difference between someone giving them away
on a web site or someone collecting docs and selling a DVD on ebay?
He gives free copies of the DVD to people who send him docs.

I played this game once and made a very big pile of money at it.
In the early 90s, I collected 3D models from artists with
the understanding that I would put them on a CD and sell it
and give them a free copy. I collected more than 500 models,
generated a few hundred tileable textures with a Mac program,
and sold (and gave away) thousands of CDs at $200.

Arguably, he's created a collection and holds a "collection
copyright" on his assembly and arrangement of public domain
or abandoned docs. Could someone put his DVD online and could
he justifably complain? Probably.

- John
Received on Tue Sep 07 2004 - 18:32:58 BST