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From: rb@cci632.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Profiteering from Shareware/Freeware?
Message-ID: <184@cci632.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 3-Jul-86 12:27:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: cci632.184
Posted: Thu Jul  3 12:27:38 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 10-Jul-86 01:05:53 EDT
References: <791@houxu.UUCP> <180@rabbit1.UUCP>
Reply-To: rb@ccird1.UUCP (Rex Ballard)
Organization: CCI, Rochester Development, Rochester, NY
Lines: 47
Summary: The start of something big!

In article <180@rabbit1.UUCP> dml@rabbit1.UUCP (David Langdon) writes:
>> 
>> I wonder if copying floppies with public domain software on them and selling 
>> those copies at 5 to 6 dollars each really is profiteering!!!
>> Granted, this software is also available on bulletin board systems, but for
>> some people, the convenience of ordering vs randomly searching through a
>> bulletin board is worth the small price.
>
>I don't think the problem here is duplication services. I am certainly willing
>to have someone else duplicate and provide the software to me without having
>to go somewhere and do it myself (phone lines, BBS charges, diskettes, ...).
>The problem is when the organization charges 5 or 6 bucks and THEN 3 or 4
>bucks in duplication/handling charges. This implies that the original 5/6
>bucks is "clear" profit (or pretty close).
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>David Langdon    Rabbit Software Corp.

Actually, these services may be the beginning of something really big.
If it is found to be profitable to sell software that is otherwise
available for free and truly public domain,  it may also be profitable
to sell copyrighted software that is otherwise available for free and
pay authors royalties.

Suppose the authors of GNU Emacs, Mince, MicroEmacs, NeoChrome, Kermit,
Xmodem,.... were given a small (6% is standard for most book authors)
royalties on the software.  Suppose enhancements were also allowed, and
authors were paid royalties for these enhancements.

The royalties per copy might not be that great ($.10/copy), but when
you realize that there are something like 8 million computers out there,
that could make a nice income or income supplement, even if your particular
software only sold a million copies/year.

Collections of public domain works are often marketed in other fields
such as books (poetry, cookbooks, auto repair, how-to-do-it, and short
stories), music, and theater/plays.

If you want to protect work form "profiteers", include a copyright
notice and "non-commercial use" terms.  If someone wants to sell
your product, they can negotiate with you or your agent.

You might wish to register a copy of your creation with the federal
copyright office as well.

It would be interesting to see if any of these "profiteers" were
selling copyrighted "non-commercial use" works without paying the author.
THAT would be a bad thing.