The Barbary States Are No More...
Hello again loyal readers. I hope everyone is doing well out there in cyberland.
This post concerns my recent problems with copyright infringement (a type of "print piracy"), thus the odd title. Without going into a history lecture, suffice to say that the Barbary States were a group of states in North Africa (in the vicinity of present day Tunisia and Libya) that conducted what US considered, at the time, to be piracy. We attacked and defeated them in the early 1800's. It is from this war that the "shores of Tripoli" phrase in the US Marine Corps Hymn originates. Lesson over, now on with the show.
From reading an earlier post, you may know that one of my posts, "Updating A Few Things..." was recently reprinted without permission by another website. After much digging, I finally found the true owners of the offending website.
I must stop the story here and apologize to the people involved with California Regional Internet, Inc., of San Diego, CA, and "jlambert@complexdrive.net". While the Whois on the IP address came back to California Regional Internet, Inc, and subsequent investigation yielded the email address above, California Regional Internet, and the owner of the above email address had NOTHING to do with this. Thus I am apolgizing for naming them in the previous post.
Now on with the rest of the story...
As I said, after much digging, I finally found the party responsible for the offending website. I subsequently emailed the person and received a very polite reply. After a bit of discussion and the email below, the person responsible agreed to remove my post from his/her site. I won't reveal the person's name out of respect for their privacy. Other than taking out the names, the letter appears unedited.
Here is the letter I sent:
Dear [person responsible's name],
I am the owner of a blog called "Chuck's Occasional Rants" (http://lobstercigs.blogspot.com). During an inspection of my blog, I came upon a link to your website under the "links to this post" section of an entry entitled "Updating A Few Things..." I clicked the link and was directed to an entry on your website. Upon examination, I found that the entry on your website was an exact duplicate of my post including the title.
As you may, or may not, know the entries on my blog are both my intellectual property and are copyrighted. The fact that the reprint appearing on your website is not an excerpt (and thus subject to "fair use"), but a reproduction of my work in its entirety, without my permission, constitutes "copyright infringement" as defined by Title 17 United States Code.
I am asking that you take one of the following actions concerning this matter:
1. You may remove the entry on your site, within 7 calender days, without penalty provided that you do not repost the entry in question ad infinitum. ; or;
2. You may retain and display the entry entitled "Updating A Few Things..." provided that you prominently credit me with the work. The credit shall contain my name, my blog's name, and a link to my blog. The limited permission to reprint granted herein shall not exceed 180 calender days. Furthermore, at no time shall you remove the credit from the entry. After the expiration of the limited permission to reprint, you may seek a renewal of this agreement. If you do not seek said renewal, the permission will be considered to have been willingly terminated by both parties. Upon termination, the entry must be removed and must not be reprinted at any time in the future without seeking a new permission agreement.
For the purposes of measuring the 7 calendar days and the 180 calender days, the date of this letter shall be set as 16 December 2005.
I am not seeking anything unreasonable here, nor do I have a great desire to engage in a lengthy criminal investigation and possible prosecution. I am merely seeking to be credited with the authorship of my own work.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
[my name here]
I sent the email and within minutes the post was removed from the offending site. I have left the link intact so that you, the reader, may verify that it is indeed gone (the post, not the link).
While I retain all rights to these posts, I am not adverse to someone republishing them on another site. I don't want money for the posts (they're not good enough for that). All I ask is that the person seeking to republish any of my posts obtain permission to do so first (you may leave a comment asking to do so), and that they give me full credit for my work. I don't think that this is unreasonable. However, if you just come and grab a post without permission and republish it without crediting me, then I have a problem with it and shall seek any and all legal remedies.
As for the issue with the offending website, I consider the matter closed. Also, I am claiming a victory (albeit a small one) against copyright infringement.
As always, I am Chuck and this has been my rant.
This post concerns my recent problems with copyright infringement (a type of "print piracy"), thus the odd title. Without going into a history lecture, suffice to say that the Barbary States were a group of states in North Africa (in the vicinity of present day Tunisia and Libya) that conducted what US considered, at the time, to be piracy. We attacked and defeated them in the early 1800's. It is from this war that the "shores of Tripoli" phrase in the US Marine Corps Hymn originates. Lesson over, now on with the show.
From reading an earlier post, you may know that one of my posts, "Updating A Few Things..." was recently reprinted without permission by another website. After much digging, I finally found the true owners of the offending website.
I must stop the story here and apologize to the people involved with California Regional Internet, Inc., of San Diego, CA, and "jlambert@complexdrive.net". While the Whois on the IP address came back to California Regional Internet, Inc, and subsequent investigation yielded the email address above, California Regional Internet, and the owner of the above email address had NOTHING to do with this. Thus I am apolgizing for naming them in the previous post.
Now on with the rest of the story...
As I said, after much digging, I finally found the party responsible for the offending website. I subsequently emailed the person and received a very polite reply. After a bit of discussion and the email below, the person responsible agreed to remove my post from his/her site. I won't reveal the person's name out of respect for their privacy. Other than taking out the names, the letter appears unedited.
Here is the letter I sent:
Dear [person responsible's name],
I am the owner of a blog called "Chuck's Occasional Rants" (http://lobstercigs.blogspot.com). During an inspection of my blog, I came upon a link to your website under the "links to this post" section of an entry entitled "Updating A Few Things..." I clicked the link and was directed to an entry on your website. Upon examination, I found that the entry on your website was an exact duplicate of my post including the title.
As you may, or may not, know the entries on my blog are both my intellectual property and are copyrighted. The fact that the reprint appearing on your website is not an excerpt (and thus subject to "fair use"), but a reproduction of my work in its entirety, without my permission, constitutes "copyright infringement" as defined by Title 17 United States Code.
I am asking that you take one of the following actions concerning this matter:
1. You may remove the entry on your site, within 7 calender days, without penalty provided that you do not repost the entry in question ad infinitum. ; or;
2. You may retain and display the entry entitled "Updating A Few Things..." provided that you prominently credit me with the work. The credit shall contain my name, my blog's name, and a link to my blog. The limited permission to reprint granted herein shall not exceed 180 calender days. Furthermore, at no time shall you remove the credit from the entry. After the expiration of the limited permission to reprint, you may seek a renewal of this agreement. If you do not seek said renewal, the permission will be considered to have been willingly terminated by both parties. Upon termination, the entry must be removed and must not be reprinted at any time in the future without seeking a new permission agreement.
For the purposes of measuring the 7 calendar days and the 180 calender days, the date of this letter shall be set as 16 December 2005.
I am not seeking anything unreasonable here, nor do I have a great desire to engage in a lengthy criminal investigation and possible prosecution. I am merely seeking to be credited with the authorship of my own work.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
[my name here]
I sent the email and within minutes the post was removed from the offending site. I have left the link intact so that you, the reader, may verify that it is indeed gone (the post, not the link).
While I retain all rights to these posts, I am not adverse to someone republishing them on another site. I don't want money for the posts (they're not good enough for that). All I ask is that the person seeking to republish any of my posts obtain permission to do so first (you may leave a comment asking to do so), and that they give me full credit for my work. I don't think that this is unreasonable. However, if you just come and grab a post without permission and republish it without crediting me, then I have a problem with it and shall seek any and all legal remedies.
As for the issue with the offending website, I consider the matter closed. Also, I am claiming a victory (albeit a small one) against copyright infringement.
As always, I am Chuck and this has been my rant.
posted by Chuck | 02:55
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