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From: hsu@cvl.UUCP (Dave Hsu)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers,net.movies
Subject: Re: Re: The Terminator vs. Harlan Ellison
Message-ID: <538@cvl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Jun-85 23:08:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: cvl.538
Posted: Tue Jun 11 23:08:49 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Jun-85 02:26:05 EDT
References: <1027@peora.UUCP> <2818@nsc.UUCP> <981@trwatf.UUCP>
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Organization: Computer Vision Lab, U. of Maryland, College Park
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Xref: watmath net.sf-lovers:7948 net.movies:6620

> In article <2818@nsc.UUCP> chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
> > off their short story 'Brillo' about a robot cop. The reality is that SF
> > authors get ripped off a LOT, mainly because they seem to be afraid to
> > fight back, either independently or through their agents or SFWA. The
> 
> How do you differentiate between rip-offs and coincidence?  The idea of a 
> robot
> cop doesn't sound so obtuse to gaurentee another writer won't think of it
> again... and invent story lines around it.
> 
> UUCP: ...{decvax,ihnp4,allegra}!seismo!trwatf!root	- Lord Frith
> ARPA: trwatf!root@SEISMO
> 

I seem to recall that OMNI mentioned this case 4 or 5 years ago.  Ellison
was apparently approached by (was it CBS?) a network for a storyline, and
the 'Brillo' concept was the one they presented, only to be deep-sixed.
Imagine your surprise if somebody produced something remarkably similar
to a design of your own AFTER you've shown them how it works.  Gee, we'd
all go out, solicit inventions, turn them down, and then mass market the
good ones for free.

-dave