HNW - Drawn thread/facsimile patterns/mittens

[Brett and Karen Williams]

GarFairies at aol.com wrote:
> 
> "Is she being paranoid to be so worried? We have seen SCA folk  practice
> outright plagarism and not have the Copyright Police knocking at their door,
> or lawyers with briefcases."
> 
> I'm thinking that she is a bit paranoid myself.   It's not likely that you'll
> be making millions off of this book.   Too often the academic types wallow so
> much in rules and regulations from their institutions that they forget the
> game.  Gosh if the fashion designers can't keep their designs from being
> copied why worry about one little book.
> 
> Beth-Katherine

Please don't construe this as an attack, Beth-Katherine, it isn't.  

I will respectfully disagree with your position. Unfortunately what
you've said is precisely the attitude the professors had that landed
them in court with about a million dollar loss in their lawsuit. Kinko's
was merely trying to make a buck or many in their specific business--
which aided those professors to violate copyrights right and left.

Constructive paranoia is sometimes good. ;) Isn't one of the primary
trade complaints the Unites States has with China is its flagrant
disregard of the Western copyright system? Shoot, a half-hours' drive
from where I live here in California, one can go to a once-monthly
electronics swapmeet and buy Chinese pirate copies of just about any
current popular software title. Because those software titles are
*there* for sale, does that mean it's ok to buy them? I don't think so.
They're stolen goods.

Let's postulate a worse-case scenario. Would you like to have your own
collection of photocopies subject to subpena during the step in a
lawsuit called discovery? Would you like to be footing the bill for
$200/hr and up as attorneys' fees for your legal defense, no matter how
small the case? Plaintiffs-- and especially plaintiffs' attorney-- will
not care that your life is ruined.

I, for one, would rather be construed as somewhat paranoid and safe than
definitely sorry. As I said before, just because chances are pretty good
one will not be caught doing something naughty doesn not mean that that
naughty act is *right*.

ciorstan
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