PDF LUGtrek Books online

[carnnage]

Okay I found an ftp that has supposly a few LUGTREG books in pdf format...I downloaded one and sure enough it was the TNG players guide. How illegal is that? I am guessing majorly.

[Liquidator Queeg]

That kind of thievery just sucks, IMHO. I suggest you delete your downloaded file in good faith and notify Wizards.

Steve

[Kaiddin]

I agree with the friend of the Liquidator.
Imagine that the book was your work. You spent the time to create it. 'nuff said.

[Don Mappin]

Considering I wrote chapters of the Players' Guide that really pisses me off.


------------------
Don
trekrpg@trekrpg.net

[Caretaker]

Carnnage, care to give us the address so we can go storm the gates and try to do something about this INTOLERABLE situation? I'm sure Don would be glad to lead the mob.

[This message has been edited by Caretaker (edited 04-02-2001).]

[Dr. Jonas Bashir]

Let's look at it in this way. I think that, by law, any copy (photocopy, electronic copy, etc) of the book for personal use, and if you OWN the hard copy of the book does not infringe any copyright from the author. So, people like us that have the LUG books could download them without much fuss. Of course... this is meant for those who won't buy the books.

Provided that I won't infringe LUG's and their authors' copyrights, I'm interested in that FTP. But I won't do anything until Steve or another lawyer throws the law books to my head and tries to knock me down.

------------------
Chakotay: You didn't poison my coffee, did you?
Janeway: Not any more than I usually do.
"The Voyager Conspiracy", Voyager

[Steve Long]

Posting an e-manuscript of a copyrighted work on an FTP site -- where it's meant for distribution to others -- is most definitely illegal. Downloading it would be illegal, even if you already own a copy of the book. If you wanted to scan your own copy of a book into your own computer solely for your own use, that probably wouldn't violate any laws (any more than making a photocopy of it strictly for your own use would). But what Carnnage describes is a serious breach of the law, and should be shut down.

Steve Long

[carnnage]

I figured it was illegal it has mostly older stuff like the Federation Ship Recognition Manual from like 1985. I'm not going to give out the ftp but I did email the webmaster about it.

[carnnage]

hahaahaha I just checked and the ftp site is turned off I am guessing he read the board. Another victory for the fine folks at trekrpg....

[Caretaker]

Just another day at the job for the dynamic duo of Steve and Don as they lead the COpyright Law Justice Team into action against those who would not protect the intellectual property of the LUGers.

[Caretaker]

Umm... Napster. That's a whole other ballgame. A darn addictive one, too.


I won't give it up, yet.


"Never give up! Never surrender!"
--- Captain Peter Quincy Taggart

[Phantom]

How is Napster any different? They should have nailed them long ago. Sorry I know this is light years off topic, but...!

[Eric R.]

First since I will be Decenting here let be state this up front.

The posting of LUG Books is a violation of Copyright Law in that the Books though discountinued are still being sold on the shelf new and the company and authors are collecting royalties from that remaining stock.

However some of you have posted some extreme points of view which would make every Library and Used Bookstore not to mention Auction sites in constant violation of Copyright.

A Copyright is primarily design for the following

1.) Protect the Author from Plagerism, i.e. take the book cut the original authors name and put your name instead.

2.) To insure the Publisher, as while as the author, recieves monetary reward for their effort for their efforts.

By the way some above have interpret the Law a Used book store can not sell a book because neither the Publisher nor the Author is payed, nor a library lend a book because they are deny the Publisher/Author the Profit of a sell. This goes as while for Auctions. Truth is generally most Publishers refrain from attacking all copiers such as those at Colleges who make copys of books for students. Further as long as you don't republish a book and then attempt to gain a profit from the reprint you are generally ignored, most cases this is special organizations reprinting long dead books from long dead publishers such as Civil War Reenactment groups reprinting Drill books and Regimental Histories. In the case of the FASA book being posted there is not much danger of infringement because 1.) the company no longer exist, 2.) the poster does not make a profit so Paramount does not get involved because of the property rights (Whats the difference here from when I copied the Four Years War Supplement for a friend?). and 3.) the material is dead and has no chance what so ever of being legitemately (for profit)reprinted again.

Remember always ask yourself wheres the profit?

Would it have been profitable for Wizards to pay a team of lawyers to go after the website? Think about that long and hard, the line is dead, they can make no more product. Now an Author can in way do better his product which he is still collecting money from has been infringed and there fore the download is deny him mony which would have come from a customer paying for the product.

Would it have been profitable for FASA to go after the person. No, the product is old and completely out of stock, new Items can not be purchased from the shelf and so therefore no royalties collected. The author has seen his last cheek for the item and is no longer concern or he would be goinf after each and every FASA Auction poster on Ebay!

Just some food for thought, I just want alternatives to paying over in some cases 40 bucks for an old FASA Federation SRM or construction manual knowing its only worth 12-15 dollars at most, which some of those yahoos over at Ebay force the things up to.

[Eric R.]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Kaiddin:
I agree with the friend of the Liquidator.
Imagine that the book was your work. You spent the time to create it. 'nuff said.</font>

If I was the author of the FASA book I would be glad that somebody still felt it good enough to post on a site and it was reaching a new generation as long as my name was still on it.

Trust me I spent the better part of year collecting source material to a terriffic Memior of Civil War vet I found hidden in my College Library and had plan to put together a comprehensive book on the life of one Issac Wolf Sherick of the 18th Pa Vol Cav. But some local attorny got the thing transferd to the computer and sold it himself with no documentation or other backup material supplied. I already had the first chapter done when that happen and I have yet to finsh it espicially after how I found out how he got the thing, he copied it from my copy which I had lent to a friend, and he got the credit for the thing. But yet I found something inside me that was happy the story was out and people know about it know.

But if I was Steve and Don and coming from LUG's material which was still giving me a check then I would be ready to go find me'a tree!

[Caretaker]

Okay, sorry. I just said "Its a whole different ballgame" because I had no better arguments


But I still like and use Napster.