Heavy Weather Strategy for a Ketch

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by Khagan1227

I can't believe the nerve.

I can. You'd be amazed how many people think that just because something is available on the web, they can copy and post it.

My guess is -- correct me if I'm wrong; I haven't gone to look -- that article is on the website of the magazine that originally published it. (CW, if I remember rightly.)

I assume the mag buys first serial rights and maybe pays a premium for web posting but the copyright remains with the authors. That's pretty much standard practice, but I have never worked with any sailing mags, so I could be wrong. Maybe sailing mags buy the copyright or perpetual web rights or something.

Either way, however, it's pretty unlikely that the boat dealers have any legal right to post the piece. They either don't know that or they don't care.

I have a colleague who found his stuff was being pirated by a newspaper chain in Indonesia or some such place. He sent them a bill and, wonder of wonders, they paid. And then they asked him for more.

They were leaving his byline on, however, which is how he found them.

Connemara

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by Connemara

They owe you money. Send 'em a bill.

I would love to contact them but can't see any way to do it?

Can anyone see any contact info anywhere for the webmaster or owner of the website??

I did a quick search and did not find anything current. There is some information from 2007 suggesting that the owner is in India and there is a yahoo e-mail address which is not longer active.

Beth only sells first serial print rights, and only very very rarely gives any electronic rights exactly because once the thing is electronic it gets away from you.

[Khagan1227]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

I would love to contact them but can't see any way to do it?

Can anyone see any contact info anywhere for the webmaster or owner of the website??

I did a quick search and did not find anything current. There is some information from 2007 suggesting that the owner is in India and there is a yahoo e-mail address which is not longer active.

Beth only sells first serial print rights, and only very very rarely gives any electronic rights exactly because once the thing is electronic it gets away from you.

Can't get you the owner's name, but this might be of value:

www.boat-dealers.us - Boat-dealers

The server is located in Columbus, OH. From the IP, you can do a search and find out the owner.

Good luck.

[witzgall]

Evan;

Look up the site at register.com, and contact the owner of the webpage.

Chris

[callistov42]

I'm with Jack Tar. We sail a Vagabond with an inner foresail. In heavy weather we put the genoa away and sail with the small heavy inner foresail and a reefed mizzen. This arrangement has done great in 50+ knot winds with us still making way to weather. Vagabond is a good bit heaver than your Pierson.

[capnorv]

I'll go with a staysail and reefed main, tuck in the center of effort. Anyway my easiest sails to drop are the ends, roller genoa and mizzen. If later on it gets real snotty, I don't have to risk myself or crew to reduce further, second reef main and reef staysail. Gets worse, finish the main... but then I hear on these forums that my boat doesn't sail, soI guess I'll just have another Obsidean.

[bob perry]

I'm with norv on this. Unless I was driving downwind.
Boats are like women (Duh) they all have their peculiar likes and dislikes.
They are all individuals and it's up to us to figure their genetic proclivities out.
I can do it with any boat, in time. I am still working on my wife.

[Bloodhound]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

That's quite annoying . . . that's an article we wrote that those guys have stolen and even removed our names from, although they left our boat name in it.

If you wrote the article you own the copyright, unless you assigned it to a publisher. In which case the publisher has a case. This is copyright violation and is usually a civil (not criminal) matter. But unless you can show financial loss, the best you can realistically hope for is that it is taken down in the case of the Web, or withdrawn in the case of print. It's bad enough to steal someone's work and put your name on it but to imprint it with your copyright notice is just going way too far. Have an attorney write them a letter demanding correction and threatening action. Thieving bastards!

[Curmudgeon]

Well, it could be criminal if there was the requisite mens rea (criminal intent). But even in a civil action, treble damages for infringement are available in certain situations (e.g. against a repeat offender). You can also collect statutory damages of up to 30K per infringed work without having to prove that you suffered any monetary loss.

You should talk to an attorney.

[S/V Alchemy]

When I was the co-owner of a small Canadian music magazine, we caught one of our contributors ripping off another, better-known music writer and settled out of court for a tidy sum, as the weasel in question had a rich pappy.

It's always worth looking for a rich pappy.

Also, Mr. Evan, you have a reasonably high profile in your rather small field of "cruisers who are regularly published". That alone has gone to be worth something, just as if our friend Mr. Perry saw a Chinese-built yacht that looked remarkably like one of his own designs. His fame in the yacht design community would be a positive here.

[AnchorageGuy]

Originally Posted by Connemara

I can. You'd be amazed how many people think that just because something is available on the web, they can copy and post it.

My guess is -- correct me if I'm wrong; I haven't gone to look -- that article is on the website of the magazine that originally published it. (CW, if I remember rightly.)

I assume the mag buys first serial rights and maybe pays a premium for web posting but the copyright remains with the authors. That's pretty much standard practice, but I have never worked with any sailing mags, so I could be wrong. Maybe sailing mags buy the copyright or perpetual web rights or something.

Either way, however, it's pretty unlikely that the boat dealers have any legal right to post the piece. They either don't know that or they don't care.

I have a colleague who found his stuff was being pirated by a newspaper chain in Indonesia or some such place. He sent them a bill and, wonder of wonders, they paid. And then they asked him for more.

They were leaving his byline on, however, which is how he found them.

Connemara

We have been freelance writers for a half dozen boating publications for over 15 years. It depends on your agreement, but for the most part, the magazine has the first right of publication. After they publish, you can pretty much do whatever you want with it, as long as you have not signed an exclusive. We have had several other publications come back to us and ask to publish an article that was in another publication earlier. we usually do a little re-write for the second or even third publication. Chuck

[Connemara]

Chuck: I don't write (yet) for sailing mags, but have been a freelance magazine/newspaper/Web writer for nearly two decades. You describe exactly the process that I am familiar with. Indeed, most people who want to reprint something contact the original mag and a reputable publication will pass them on to you, thus adding to your income.

This thread is drifting, for which I apologize.

Connemara

[bob perry]

There are a lot of boats out there that have my name pinned on them but they are not my designs.

[Bloodhound]

It's not unusual for the publisher to ask the author to assign copyright; the copyright assignment is usually just a matter of signing a form. However, once the author has assigned copyright he no longer owns it; the assignee does, so be careful about giving permission to use something you may no longer own. Same goes for "rewriting" an article owned by another: if you own it do what you like (consistent with your agreement with the first publisher), but if you don't, even a rewrite of the very article you originally wrote could be dangerous. To my mind, plagiarism is a more grevious sin than bank robbery---one can return someone's money, but one can never return someone's creation.

[Curmudgeon]

That's right, Bloodhound, but even if you've assigned the copyright you may still have "droights morale" under the Berne Convention in most EU countries and perhaps Canada. (Even though the U.S. acceeded to the Berne Convention, it sidestepped the issue of droights morale, which have never been recognized in the U.S.).

One such right is attribution. Even the owner of the copyright cannot claim that someone other than the author created the work. Another is defacement, so that even the copyright owner can't paint a mustache on a copyrighted image created by someone else, unless the owner can show that it was intended as a parody.

Once again, Mr. Starzinger should call a lawyer.