Alan Kong wrote:
>   Gautam, I read the IRTC copyright rules at http://www.irtc.org/copy.html
> and, IMO, I believe your copyright on your artwork has been violated by the
> publisher and the author, H.L. Capron. You might contact Nathan O'Brien and
> Fabien Mosen and ask them if their artwork has also been used without their
> permission.

 I've been informed by Gautam's message on IRTC-list, and I'm very
upset,
because I NEVER gave such permission !!
 I suppose that we must first get the opinion of every injured artist
before deciding how we must react.
 Wait and see...

Fabien.

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For factual information of copyright law, it's enforcement, and possible
remedies within the USA see the following page:

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/

It will of course vary from country to country but the info here should be
enough to let you know where you stand from a general legal point of view
without first having to contact a lawyer for this type of information.

There is more general information on the subject on the copyright FAQ and
resources page at:

http://www.aimnet.com/~carroll/copyright/faq-home.html

-- 
Ken Tyler
1100+ Povray, Graphics, 3D Rendering, and Raytracing Links:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html

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Since the US is usually regarded as litigation heaven, I would say: Sue
them! You can finally make some money with your hobby!

Now, jokes aside, I actually mean that quite seriously, because of the
following reason:

They should not get away with it. If you don't sue them, they'll do it
again. If it is a large publisher, you'll probably get some nice punitive
damages too.


Greetings,
Johannes (who isn't an attourney)

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Johannes Hubert wrote:
> 
> Since the US is usually regarded as litigation heaven, I would say: Sue
> them! You can finally make some money with your hobby!
> 
> Now, jokes aside, I actually mean that quite seriously, because of the
> following reason:
> 
> They should not get away with it. If you don't sue them, they'll do it
> again. If it is a large publisher, you'll probably get some nice punitive
> damages too.

The problem is that it seems that some images comes from non-US people
(Nathan O'Brien, myself,...), and while it is clear that they did
something
wrong, suing them from here is not an easy matter.

Is there any known case of such multi-country copyright infringement of
net-availiable material ?

Fabien.

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As I said, I am not an attourney, but I think that the law of the country
where the infringement happens applies, in this case the country where the
book is published.
I agree that it would be much too tedious to sue for you, if this has to
happen in the US.
But if US citizens decide to sue, you could probably hook up with them (some
sort of class action lawsuit).

Johannes.

Fabien <fab### [at] skynetbe> wrote in message
news:37EF3FC1.E31C91BE@skynet.be...
> Johannes Hubert wrote:
> >
> > Since the US is usually regarded as litigation heaven, I would say: Sue
> > them! You can finally make some money with your hobby!
> >
> > Now, jokes aside, I actually mean that quite seriously, because of the
> > following reason:
> >
> > They should not get away with it. If you don't sue them, they'll do it
> > again. If it is a large publisher, you'll probably get some nice
punitive
> > damages too.
>
> The problem is that it seems that some images comes from non-US people
> (Nathan O'Brien, myself,...), and while it is clear that they did
> something
> wrong, suing them from here is not an easy matter.
>
> Is there any known case of such multi-country copyright infringement of
> net-availiable material ?
>
> Fabien.

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Fabien wrote:
> 
> Johannes Hubert wrote:
> >
> > Since the US is usually regarded as litigation heaven, I would say: Sue
> > them! You can finally make some money with your hobby!
> >
> > Now, jokes aside, I actually mean that quite seriously, because of the
> > following reason:
> >
> > They should not get away with it. If you don't sue them, they'll do it
> > again. If it is a large publisher, you'll probably get some nice punitive
> > damages too.
> 
> The problem is that it seems that some images comes from non-US people
> (Nathan O'Brien, myself,...), and while it is clear that they did
> something
> wrong, suing them from here is not an easy matter.
> 
> Is there any known case of such multi-country copyright infringement of
> net-availiable material ?
> 
> Fabien.

  I again urge the involved parties to obtain informed information on
this subject. Specificaly of interest to your case would be sections
2.8 and 2.9 at the URL listed below where it details a publishers fair
and reasonable right to publish material without the copyright holders
consent for educational purposes.

ftp://ftp.aimnet.com/pub/users/carroll/law/copyright/faq/part2

See also the following page for information regarding copyright law
where it concerns international treaties signed for the protection
of copyright holders and how it entitles you to fair protection
against copyright enfringement by countries that have signed said
international copyright treaties:

ftp://ftp.aimnet.com/pub/users/carroll/law/copyright/faq/part4

The previously sited page for US copyright law title 17 gives you
details on specific courses of action regarding remedaition of
copyright enfringment:  http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/


  In my own interpertation of what I have so far read you are not
likely to have a strong enough case to win a monetary award for
presumed damages arising from unauthorized use of your materials.
I only say this because of the way that they have been used for
educational purposes. Had your images been used as part of a book
that showcases computer generated images and it's sole purpose
is to make a clear profit of the sales of the book for the images
it contains then you would have a strong case against the authors
and the publisher. In this case the profit is being made instead
off of the intellectual content of the book and not the images
used to illustrate the concepts of it's content. Having said this
however I am no lawyer and I know little about your specific legal
right in this regard.


-- 
Ken Tyler
1100+ Povray, Graphics, 3D Rendering, and Raytracing Links:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html

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Ken wrote:

>   I again urge the involved parties to obtain informed information on
> this subject. Specificaly of interest to your case would be sections
> 2.8 and 2.9 at the URL listed below where it details a publishers fair
> and reasonable right to publish material without the copyright holders
> consent for educational purposes.

The document clearly states "NON-PROFIT educational purposes", which is
very different from "educational purposes".  For example, it could be
a teacher using the image to illustrate a lesson, as a slide, or printed
in something that the students get *at cost*.

The Prenhall book is hardly in the "non-profit" category...

Fabien.

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Johannes Hubert wrote:
> 
> As I said, I am not an attourney, but I think that the law of the country
> where the infringement happens applies, in this case the country where the
> book is published.
> I agree that it would be much too tedious to sue for you, if this has to
> happen in the US.
> But if US citizens decide to sue, you could probably hook up with them (some
> sort of class action lawsuit).
> 
> Johannes.
> 

Sueing assumes that the publisher is not all together bona fide. Now this is not
an elegant thing, but I don't really think the publisher here intentionally
broke some copyright-law. Perhaps a good first step would be to simply write a
(e-)letter, stating that they have used one (or more) of _your_ products and how
this could happen and then see how they react. It's good to not let this go
unnoticed. If the publisher has had a chance to defend his actions you can
decide what happens next.
Of course, chances are they'll ignore you, in which case sueing in court might
not really be an option but nailing them to a virtual wall on the internet (by
all sorts of ways) is! I think they're are a lot of people who'll support you
then.

Good luck,

Remco

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Fabien <fab### [at] skynetbe> wrote in message
news:37EF5163.3E5F0138@skynet.be...
> Ken wrote:
>
> >   I again urge the involved parties to obtain informed information on
> > this subject. Specificaly of interest to your case would be sections
> > 2.8 and 2.9 at the URL listed below where it details a publishers fair
> > and reasonable right to publish material without the copyright holders
> > consent for educational purposes.
>
> The document clearly states "NON-PROFIT educational purposes", which is
> very different from "educational purposes".  For example, it could be
> a teacher using the image to illustrate a lesson, as a slide, or printed
> in something that the students get *at cost*.
>
> The Prenhall book is hardly in the "non-profit" category...

I agree with Fabien here: A book by Prentice Hall is not for "educational
purposes" it is to make profit (for P.H.). That this book is then used in an
educational environment is a different story.

If it had been a lecture-script, probably compiled by a professor or a
student and sold for only the costs of copying and distribution, now that
would be a different story.

BTW: I know that it can be very dangerous for an U.S. citizen to give legal
advice without beeing accredited at the bar, so people, look out and at
least add a "I am not a lawyer or attourney" to your posts in this thread.

Johannes (who isn't a lawyer or attourney, and who doesn't really care,
since he doesn't live in the US... ;-)

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Johannes Hubert wrote:

> BTW: I know that it can be very dangerous for an U.S. citizen to give legal
> advice without beeing accredited at the bar, so people, look out and at
> least add a "I am not a lawyer or attourney" to your posts in this thread.
> 
> Johannes (who isn't a lawyer or attourney, and who doesn't really care,
> since he doesn't live in the US... ;-)

I have given the best advice I can think of - Seek knowlege from informed
sources such as from the sites I gave URL's for. Other than that I ain't
no lawyer (I previously made that same disclaimer) and have offered about
all I am going to on this matter. I would like to hear the outcome of any
actions that may be taken against the publisher and or author of the book.

-- 
Ken Tyler
1100+ Povray, Graphics, 3D Rendering, and Raytracing Links:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html

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