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I have recently had a copyright issue with an item I published on my own site. After 11 years the author (who I did credit with the work) contacted me and told me off, basically. No problem I said, yes, I did however try and contact your publisher on numerous occasions, they did not even bother to reply. The secretary was probably doing her nails.
We settled the situation quite amicably and I must admit he was very understanding. But, in reply to a question, he replied no answer from publishers is not enough, it should still not be published. OK fair enough. But, I copied an old book published by a publisher who no longer exists and by an author who is long dead. The book was falling apart so I scanned it into my pc, it took some time I'll tell you! The published date is 1860, so my question is Can I publish online? Not as my work, but as historical info?
The whole question of copyright and the internet is very vague. The internet, to my mind, is the property of the people. you pay for your pc, you pay for the access, you pay for the internet, so its yours! I do WW2 and local history research and publish results accordingly. I get emails from all over the world sending me stuff that has a strong family relevance to the topic in hand. Sometimes these include newspaper cuttings from whenever, family photos (which I can obviously use) and even information on X, Y or Z. How am I to know if its from a publication or not?
I received an article from the son of an inventor a while back, it detailed how his father had invented a device in WW2 which the Americans claimed was their invention, which was actually British (a bit like the computer actually!). I published his email in the relevant page and then got a nasty email from a German site claiming that I had pinched THEIR article. WHAT! The item came from the family!!
The way I see it, is this: if someone publishes online, as I do, it becomes the property of the people. If publishers do not like this DON'T publish online. SIMPLE! When I get an email asking to use something, I say help yourself, thats what its for.
We settled the situation quite amicably and I must admit he was very understanding. But, in reply to a question, he replied no answer from publishers is not enough, it should still not be published. OK fair enough. But, I copied an old book published by a publisher who no longer exists and by an author who is long dead. The book was falling apart so I scanned it into my pc, it took some time I'll tell you! The published date is 1860, so my question is Can I publish online? Not as my work, but as historical info?
The whole question of copyright and the internet is very vague. The internet, to my mind, is the property of the people. you pay for your pc, you pay for the access, you pay for the internet, so its yours! I do WW2 and local history research and publish results accordingly. I get emails from all over the world sending me stuff that has a strong family relevance to the topic in hand. Sometimes these include newspaper cuttings from whenever, family photos (which I can obviously use) and even information on X, Y or Z. How am I to know if its from a publication or not?
I received an article from the son of an inventor a while back, it detailed how his father had invented a device in WW2 which the Americans claimed was their invention, which was actually British (a bit like the computer actually!). I published his email in the relevant page and then got a nasty email from a German site claiming that I had pinched THEIR article. WHAT! The item came from the family!!
The way I see it, is this: if someone publishes online, as I do, it becomes the property of the people. If publishers do not like this DON'T publish online. SIMPLE! When I get an email asking to use something, I say help yourself, thats what its for.
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