Hello, I am not a lwyer, but: 1. If you claim a copyright on a text, that means that you have copyrighted the text. 2. This dude claimed a copyright on a text that was not his. 3. One or more complaints were filed at Lulu for such abuse. 4. The way the price structure was set up was a clear sign that the offer was fraudulent. 5. The books and downloads were removed.
As a conclusion I suggest that everyone remain vigilant and report any abuse by using the channels offered by these different sites. The Ooo manuals are under license, and the whole point of using theses licenses is tho avoid this type of fraud. In my opinion, this particular website was set up by an individual who wanted to make a quick buck. We will have more trouble when a major company steps in and tries to take advantage of the work done. Gabe > Wolfgang Uhlig wrote: > > >> I have no idea what's going on, or who removed the books. I didn't > >> contact Lulu about this myself, but Gabe did (and possibly others > >> as well); perhaps that had some effect? > > > > Perhaps he didn't like the impact on his "reputation" of the > > comments for each book, warning people that they are ripped off ;) > > > >> I notice that the clone storefront itself is still there, but all > >> the books are gone (the links on the left go to an "Item not > >> available" message). It's possible that the books may return later, > >> in some form, so I guess we'd better keep an eye on this store. > > > > I am not at all familiar with licences, I must admit (shame), but > > shouldn't we discuss a possibility to change our documentation to > > kind of "freeware" so that nobody else can make money out of them? > > Sorry if this sounds silly to you, it's just an idea. > > I tend to agree with Daniel in that this is a consequence of open > source. Either it's open or not, either anyone can make money with it > or no-one. This is just the dark side of the force. > > It's like with the many portals that are offering downloads of free > software for a fee. The fee is for their download "service" so the > only way to stop keeping them doing this would be to be more > restrictive with the license. And that would be against the spirit of > open source. > > One thing is encouraging though. An increasing number of parasites > shows the increasing relevance of the project and the product. > > Measures against this behaviour are probably sparse. Mainly > around brand protection, I guess. > > Frank > > -- > Frank Peters > Documentation Project Co-Lead > > The OOo Documentation Project: > SIGN UP - PARTICIPATE - CONTRIBUTE > IT'S FREE! NO OBLIGATIONS! > http://documentation.openoffice.org > http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation > > . . . -----===¦;,.G.T.,;¦===----- =8-) Gabriel Thullen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> . . . Swiss Wheelchair Basketball . . . http://www.handibasket.ch/
