News Flash! As expected the Ebay seller with whom I have been having a bit of a set-to, seems to be confused. I took the time to work through their storefront and found one more item of mine (well, there is at least one other that started life as a reprint from the MWTCA, but that is another story).
The little Disston pamphlet of 1875 popped up in one of their catalog collections. This was an early version that did not have a watermark. I directed the seller to take a look at the document properties and read who created the pdf. Strangely enough, that was me.
Herewith is the sellers response:
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"Dear toolemera,
Hi Gary, this item has been temporarily removed, I am looking up the person who sold us resale rights to that catalog. Usually we own originals of everything we resale to eliminatr any problems such as this.
That said, you do understand that simply scanning public domain materials does NOT give you a new copyright. Ethics of course are of a differnt matter.
Most public domain material can be found in libraries, so simply scanning a document and claiming it as your own copyrighted works does not give you a valid (or legal) copyright. Otherwise 100 people could scan an identical work and all claim copyright on it. (Check with your copyright lawyer on this).
Check copyright laws, you do not have a legal copyright to any material you simply scan. You are also NOT allowed to post certain public domain items online without getting special permission. Your catalogs fall into this category.
A right usually reserved for the Smithsonian and other goverment and/or non-profit libraries. If someone is causing us grief, you may want to remove such materials before they start picking on you.
I still need proof of ownership of the Shurly catalog, to prove it is not a copy of the same resale rights software we purchased.
Thank you"
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I've removed the seller ID as I am not out on a witch hunt. I did respond, yet again, to the seller with a brief statement of the current copyright situation covering digital containers such as a PDF, particularly when a PDF has been created from processed images, held within a customized PDF document. Not only that, the copyright statement on my site clearly states the limits of use under Fair Use. Unfortunately, this seller continues to harbor grave misunderstandings of what Fair Use in the digital age means. Pity.
An additional quirk popped up in another email from the seller:
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"A simple (non-enhanced) scan/photocopy of an old artwork should be tagged with the appropriate type of {{PD-old}} tag, provided that the original is old enough to be in the public domain by virtue of its age. The scan/photocopy itself, as a purely mechanical and non-creative act, cannot create any new copyright for the person who did the scanning. Such an image lacks originality: it is a bare copy, no more. That rule applies internationally and, on Commons, is normally taken for granted."
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PD-Old? Wow, that's a new one to me. I looked it up and lo and behold! Wiki is at it again. PD-Old is a Wiki invented tag for old images, or something. Interesting, but useless. I gotta tell ya, Wiki drives us library types nuts. If it's in a Wiki, it's fact. Piffle. Piffle. Yes, I say PIFFLE!
Ebay responded to my initial email thusly:
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"Dear Gary,
Thank you for writing eBay in regard to this listing.
If you believe that a listing or item posted on eBay infringes your
intellectual property rights, the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program
may be able to assist you.
As you may know, eBay does not buy or sell any items. We act only as a
venue that helps buyers and sellers to do so. We neither see nor inspect
any items that are offered for sale on eBay. However, we recognize that
some posted items may infringe certain intellectual property rights. For
this reason, we have created the VeRO Program, which enables
intellectual property rights owners to identify and request the removal
of allegedly infringing listings.
The many benefits of participating in VeRO include:
- Direct access to a support team dedicated to addressing rights owners'
requests and processing Notices of Claimed Infringement (NOCIs)
- The ability to request the removal of listings that infringe your
intellectual property rights by using the NOCI form
- The ability to request detailed contact information for sellers who
post listings that may infringe your intellectual property rights
How to File a NOCI Report
The first time you file a NOCI, you will need to download, complete, and
submit the document to eBay by fax. If you need to submit subsequent
NOCIs after your initial fax has been processed, you will be able to do
so online.
***Note***
To view and print the NOCI, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader
installed on your computer. If you don't already have the program, you
can download Acrobat Reader for free from Adobe's Web site. To do so, go
to:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
To download a copy of the NOCI form, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/NOCI1.pdf
Please be sure to complete all sections of the form, sign, and fax the
NOCI to:
eBay Inc.
ATTN: VeRO
(408) 516-8811
For more information about the VeRO Program, please visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-rights-owner.html
If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us at the
following email address:
vero@ebay.com.
The VeRO program procedures are intended to substantially comply with
the requirements of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.,
Section 512. To read the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, go to:
http://www.qlinks.net/comdocs/uscopyright.htm
Thank you for using eBay for your online trading needs."
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Well, I guess that is one way to try to avoid responsibility. Using this logic, I should go into the auction business and simply not view or inspect anything that I sell. I can stand behind a screen and call the bids. Incognito.
If you really want to get into the Stanford stuff on copyright, check out Fair Use and Public Domain.
Till next,
Gary
PS: I also find it interesting that the seller is following this blog...
PPS: I forgot to mention to our disgruntled Ebayer that, while I do not work for the Smithsonian, I do work in the library and archives of a US Gov't funded engineering research laboratory. I guess I do have some notion of what is and what is not jermain.
