A
aspen0
Guest
I run an online library that contains public domain texts. There are many sites like mine, the president of the most popular one (the oldest one, the one with the most money, whatever you want to call it), sent me an email today. The email itself was very unofficial, one thing he specifically said sounded like an ultimatum.
"I hope this can be resolved within 10 business days so that no further communication will be necessary."
Now he claims I'm publishing a work that his business owns the copyright to. I've searched the US Copyright Office website for this work, there are 7 records. A few are spinoffs, one is for an 1982 edition (125th anniversary edition), one is for a 1991 edition (16th edition). There are no records with this person's name, his company's name, or the name of the university where his site started as a graduate project. The edition he publishes on his site is listed as 10th edition and was published in 1919 - there are no currently copyright records on file for the 10th edition, its in the public domain.
Now this book is a compilation of quotes. Our two websites are the only two that have this quotation database. He claims I copied it from him. Even if I did pursuant to Title 17, Section 102 Paragraph B, he has no claims on the actual text does he not? Only on his formatting or presentation of the text?
Incidentially we format and present our versions differently. First of all I only have 8000 some quotes in my database, he has over 10,000. Second of all I format my quotes different than his, he allows people to browse through them, I do not, he includes line numbers and foot notes, I do not. The only thing our sites have in common is the actual text, and the actual text is in the public domain.
However the cofounder of this website is a corporate lawyer. I think they may just want to sue me because I compete with them. I'm a poor college student, I can't afford to go to their district and hire a lawyer and fight them, yet my site is pretty popular and is probably huting their bottom line (that and the fallen ad market). They're looking for revenue and they're looking at me.
If they do sue me is there anything I can do about it? They have no grounds to sue me for infringing the copyright of something that they do not own, and furthermore they are not the author of this work so even if they did own the copyright to it unless it is registered then only the author can file an infringement claim (correct?).
I feel like I'm being muscled here and thats just not fair.
I've also heard something about "work product theft" but a search on Google turned up no information.
Any help would be appreciated.
I'm in Michigan, they are in New York.
"I hope this can be resolved within 10 business days so that no further communication will be necessary."
Now he claims I'm publishing a work that his business owns the copyright to. I've searched the US Copyright Office website for this work, there are 7 records. A few are spinoffs, one is for an 1982 edition (125th anniversary edition), one is for a 1991 edition (16th edition). There are no records with this person's name, his company's name, or the name of the university where his site started as a graduate project. The edition he publishes on his site is listed as 10th edition and was published in 1919 - there are no currently copyright records on file for the 10th edition, its in the public domain.
Now this book is a compilation of quotes. Our two websites are the only two that have this quotation database. He claims I copied it from him. Even if I did pursuant to Title 17, Section 102 Paragraph B, he has no claims on the actual text does he not? Only on his formatting or presentation of the text?
Incidentially we format and present our versions differently. First of all I only have 8000 some quotes in my database, he has over 10,000. Second of all I format my quotes different than his, he allows people to browse through them, I do not, he includes line numbers and foot notes, I do not. The only thing our sites have in common is the actual text, and the actual text is in the public domain.
However the cofounder of this website is a corporate lawyer. I think they may just want to sue me because I compete with them. I'm a poor college student, I can't afford to go to their district and hire a lawyer and fight them, yet my site is pretty popular and is probably huting their bottom line (that and the fallen ad market). They're looking for revenue and they're looking at me.
If they do sue me is there anything I can do about it? They have no grounds to sue me for infringing the copyright of something that they do not own, and furthermore they are not the author of this work so even if they did own the copyright to it unless it is registered then only the author can file an infringement claim (correct?).
I feel like I'm being muscled here and thats just not fair.
I've also heard something about "work product theft" but a search on Google turned up no information.
Any help would be appreciated.
I'm in Michigan, they are in New York.