Re: False and Deceptive Trade Practices (was Acknowledging Samples)

Do a google books search (using the advanced search capabilities) for the publisher "diane publishing". You will find hundreds of US Federal publications that have been reprinted by the publisher and digitized (either by Google or the publisher, it isn't clear) in which every page carries the statement "Copyrighted material." Some of these same items are available in a nearly identical form from the issuing agencies, free and openly available, so there's no mistaking that they really are public domain. I haven't heard that anyone is taking any action against them.

kc

John T. Mitchell wrote:
> Steve's last comment on the "Acknowledging samples" thread reminds me
> of a related nagging question: Might a person who claims copyright
> over a work which is in the public domain run afoul of trade deception
> laws? (Example: I publish a work by Shakespeare and place a copyright
> notice on it, perhaps with the added language "warning" that any
> reproduction without my authorization is an infringement.)
>
> If so, might not the same apply to a copyright owner who claims
> broader exclusive rights than the Copyright Act grants? (Example: In
> U.S.A., placing a notice on a book, painting or movie stating that it
> is "not for rental" despite Section 109 of the Copyright Act which
> authorizes rental without the consent of the copyright owner.)
>
> Since both such examples will tend to suppress the free trade in the
> work (a work protected by the First Amendment, no less, if in the
> U.S.A.), it would seem that it should not be permitted.
>
> John M.
>
> On Sep 20, 2006, at 2:30 PM, Steven Jamar wrote:
>
>> sloppy on my part. the fraud is in deceiving others into thinking
>> they are yours. that would be in play here.
>>
>> it is not passing off in this particular example. passing off is
>> taking something of yours (or of someone else's, e.g., an imitation
>> rolex) and passing it off as the real thing.
>>
>> you could also run afoul of various trade deception laws --
>> representing something as your original work when it is not -- sort
>> of a reverse passing off, perhaps.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> On Sep 20, 2006, at 1:05 PM, Wallace J.McLean wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>>> If I take a bunch of sonnets by Dryden, Shakespeare, Donne,
>>>> Owen, and
>>>>> others, and publish them in a chapbook, under my name, as if I were
>>>>> the poet, I have committed plagiarism. Really stupid plagiarism.
>>>>> Really, spectacularly stupid plagiarism. But I have done nothing
>>>>> illegal.
>>>>
>>>> Well, not quite. Passing off and fraud are illegal so you may have
>>>> done something illegal. But you haven't violated copyright law.
>>>
>>>
>>> Where's the "passing off"?
>>>
>>> What's the fraud?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> #############################################################
>>> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
>>> the mailing list <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>.
>>> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <CNI-COPYRIGHT-off[_at_]cni.org>
>>> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-digest[_at_]cni.org>
>>> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-index[_at_]cni.org>
>>> To postpone your subscription, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-null[_at_]cni.org>
>>> To resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail to
>>> <CNI-COPYRIGHT-feed[_at_]cni.org>
>>> Send administrative queries to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-request[_at_]cni.org>
>>>
>>> Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at
>>> <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>.
>>>
>>
>> --Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017
>> Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8567
>> 2900 Van Ness Street NW mailto:stevenjamar[_at_]gmail.com
>> Washington, DC 20008 http://iipsj.com/SDJ/
>>
>> "Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but
>> also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man,
>> but you refuse to hate him."
>>
>> Martin Luther King, Jr.
>>
>>
>>
>> #############################################################
>> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
>> the mailing list <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>.
>> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <CNI-COPYRIGHT-off[_at_]cni.org>
>> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-digest[_at_]cni.org>
>> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-index[_at_]cni.org>
>> To postpone your subscription, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-null[_at_]cni.org>
>> To resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail to
>> <CNI-COPYRIGHT-feed[_at_]cni.org>
>> Send administrative queries to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-request[_at_]cni.org>
>>
>> Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at
>> <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>.
>>
>
>
> #############################################################
> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
> the mailing list <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>.
> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <CNI-COPYRIGHT-off[_at_]cni.org>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-digest[_at_]cni.org>
> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-index[_at_]cni.org>
> To postpone your subscription, E-mail to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-null[_at_]cni.org>
> To resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail to
> <CNI-COPYRIGHT-feed[_at_]cni.org>
> Send administrative queries to <CNI-COPYRIGHT-request[_at_]cni.org>
>
> Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at
> <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>.
>
>
>

-- 
-----------------------------------
Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
------------------------------------