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From: chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: Followup on "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" copyright problem
Message-ID: <4703@sun.uucp>
Date: Wed, 2-Jul-86 12:14:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.4703
Posted: Wed Jul  2 12:14:27 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 3-Jul-86 19:38:09 EDT
References: <4652@sun.uucp> <308@hp-sdd.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Fictional Reality, uLtd
Lines: 49

I'm going to assume you're trying to be humourous and not demeaning, and 
answer this straight...

> What some people will do to get a letter from a famous writer (I believe
> he wrote the Mote in God's Eye with Jerry Pournelle) is beyond me.
> Hope you didn't throw that one away. 

I don't throw ANY letter I get from an author away, because they come in 
handy when I need to prove to the IRS that things like my CompuServe account
really are professional deductions and that I really truly am a writer who
deserves to take his postage bill (somewhere around the size of the federal
deficit) off as a business deduction.

More seriously, in this case, if for some reason Niven changes his mind
in the future, we have documentation of a good faith action to working with
Niven on this case.  That will go a long way towards protecting the net from
any damages claim that may occur -- we have documentation that Niven knew
about the problem and declined action on it.

> Tattletale. :-)

Damn Straight.  Usenet is not above the law, despite the appearances and the
actions of a few low-lifes.  We've played far and wide with copyright over
the years, from posting Joe-Bob every week to this latest mistake.  When
Usenet was 100 users on 50 sites, practicality says that it ins't a problem,
but 20,000 user on 2,000 sites is a significant audience. If WE don't police
ourself, someone else will do it for us.  It is CRITICAL that we show
ourselves to be cooperative when these things occur, because voluntarily
trying to reduce the damage of an infringement goes a lot way towards
keeping the author from geting pissed at us and the court from awarding
major damages.  As I said before, be glad the infringement was on Niven and
not Harlan Ellison.

> "Umuhmuhmuhmuhmuhmuh I'm gonna tell mom on you!!!!"
> -- Every little kid

no, my mother doesn't care about copyright.  I do, since I'm a writer, and I
plan to continue to care about it.  It is important for the net to realize
what the laws are and to follow them, or someone is going to get burned.


-- 
:From the lofty realms of Castle Plaid:          Chuq Von Rospach 
chuq%plaid@sun.COM	FidoNet: 125/84		 CompuServe: 73317,635
{decwrl,decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,pyramid,seismo,ucbvax}!sun!plaid!chuq

Dessert is probably the most important stage of the meal, since it will be
the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over the table.
					-- The Anarchist Cookbook