Copyright News

[John A Swartz]

Steve writes:

ROBO,

I have no business telling you what to do, of course, but as the
creator of the original BOC lyrics archives, I'm asking you, as a
fellow fan and as a BOC-L member, to take the link to the BOC-L
archives off of your web page.  And the same goes for anybody else who
is currently advertising the availability of these things outside of
BOC-L.  Please stop, before somebody actually decides to actually *do*
something about it.  You know that when these things go to court, the
people who arrive with search warrants tend to not know anything about
computers or data storage, and so they just grab everything in the
area that looks electronic.  Think about if Sony music decides that
we're infringing their copyright, and have the BOC-L archive and
mail server seized?

Yes, I'm probably being alarmist, but stranger things have happened.
The fact is that this isn't the first time Bolle has mentioned his
contract to produce 500 copies of the BOC-L lyrics book, and it's
making me nervous.  What if he decides that we're cutting into his
profit margin by effectively giving them away for free?

I propose, again, that we stop advertising the existence of these
things outside of BOC-L.

Steve


Steve - if this is your feeling, I might also add that the archives
are also advertised in the BOC FAQ.  Now, I'm planning on releasing a
new version within a month (just waiting for the next issue of Morning
Final, rumored to be mailed by the end of this month), and if it is
your wish, I will update the FAQ.  Do you wish me to remove the FTP
address information altogether, or would it suffice to remove the
information in the FAQ that states that lyric files are available
at the site.  Please let me know what you think on this.

I don't agree with all of this, but I do feel as the editor of the FAQ
that I have some responsibility in this area beyond my own wishes.  I
certainly would not want the FAQ to be a cause of future problems
for BOC-L, or the archive site.

John