Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/21/mailbag_copyright_no/
Copyright wally of the week
'Mind if I pinch this then change the name?'
Posted in Media, 21st June 2010 15:06 GMT
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Andrew's Mailbag At El Reg we're happy to license our copy [1], and if you ask nicely, you might even get use of it for free. But this is the most unusual request I've ever received.
Subject: Sunny Spain article use for local US newspaperAndrew,
Thanks for the hard hitting and brief article on solar power. I would like to submit it to our local newspaper (Bellefontaine, Ohio - target of wind developers) - as an opinion editorial.
They will print it provided the author shows up and signs a release in person. To get around this, I would like permission to make minor modifications and have a local citizen submit it as their own.
Would be happy to send you the draft first for your approval or advice. Thank you.
-- Tom Stacy
www.savewesternOH.org - executive director
www.wind-watch.org - board of directors
ASME US Energy Policy Committee - member at large
Um. What?
I wrote back:
You're proposing taking work to which you have no rights, and without compensation, passing it off as some one else's?
Unfazed, Tom simply replied:
Whatever, dude.
Clearly, for some people, the concept of ownership and rights is quite an amorphous thing. Maybe that statutory maximum ($150,000 per offence) in the DMCA just isn't high enough. What do you think? ®