Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Thanks Doug....

[HAEWAI <marco@zeeman.co.nz>]

I agree, many thanks Doug

Regards


Marco


May the sun be shining on your household.....



> Photocopies are nice, but priginals are a thousand times better!  Thanks
> for the original, Doug!  You da man!
> Carl
> 
> 
> SeaLordOne@aol.com wrote:
>> 
>> Peter & Ian,
>> 
>> I used to provide that photocopy service to the PSUBs community.  The
>> book is so huge (764 pages) that I had to charge $75.00 for the
>> photocopies, just to break even.  Then a couple of heavy hitters in
>> the group accused me of profiting from copyrighted material.  I knew
>> they were incorrect, but they were heavy hitters and I was a little
>> nobody, so I figured I had better not argue.  I said I would be a good
>> sport and I contacted the Navy to clarify the issue.
>> 
>> The Navy was surprised by my question.  One, the book is published by
>> the Navy.  Two, it has no copyright stamp.  Three, it was printed by
>> the United States Printing Office.  Why in the world would I think it
>> was copyrighted?  It turns out that the Navy used to refer people to a
>> dive shop in Maryland, which sold photocopies (for a profit...totally
>> legal).  They were disappointed when the dive shop discontinued the
>> business.  But the Navy did turn me on to a lead, which led in time to
>> them supplying me with the last 200 copies of Manned Submersibles in
>> the Navy inventory.  I have distributed those to PSUBers all over the
>> world, but now they are all gone.
>> 
>> While I was handing out those 200 books, at least a dozen people
>> promised me they would either build a website, or press a CD, or take
>> up the photocopy mission.  So I figured that once I had distributed
>> the 200 books, I could retire from the Busby Book Business.  The torch
>> would pass on to someone else.  I am getting the bad feeling that none
>> of those folks is currently in a position to continue providing Busby
>> books to the PSUBS community.  If you are, please step forward.  If
>> you are not, I am willing go back into the photocopy business.  I see
>> Busby as the "bible" every PSUBber should have access to, if they want
>> it.  I want to make myself useful to the community, in gratitude of
>> all I learn from the community.  I was hoping to move onto other
>> projects, but if no one else is going to do it, I will contine to be
>> the go-to guy for Busby Books.  If someone could help me produce it in
>> CD form, that would make it a lot cheaper.
>> 
>> One last comment on the public domain status of Busby.  Because of my
>> job with the Federal Aviation Administration, I have access to
>> copyright experts that may not be available to everyone in the PSUBs
>> community.  I have also spoken personally and directly to quite a few
>> Navy personnel about this issue (the Navy has reorganized a few times
>> since Busby was published, so I had to follow the trail).  Public
>> Domain means just what it says.  Mr. Busby never had rights to that
>> book, never.  He did not sell the rights to the Navy...he never had
>> them.  This was a "work for hire".  He agreed even before he wrote it
>> that it would belong to the government and people of the United
>> States.  That is how the system works.  You can photocopy it and sell
>> it for a huge profit if you want to...that is perfectly legal.  You
>> have as much right to that book as you do to the Holy Bible or the
>> complete works of Shakespeare.  The folks who publish those works have
>> no more rights to them than you do.
>> 
>> The governments of the world had the wisdom to make sure that, at some
>> point in time, almost every non-classified written word will end up in
>> the public domain.  Copyright protection is a temporary (often long
>> but never permanent) "ownership" the government awards to some authors
>> and their descendents to control/make a profit from, their work for a
>> limited time.  But in time almost all of it ends up the property of
>> the world's citizens.  The wisdom of the founding fathers of western
>> civilization, I suppose.
>> 
>> I am hoping that my ability to provide 200 virgin Busby Books to the
>> PSUBs commuity over the last two years will give me some credibility
>> on this copyright issue with the Busby Books.  I would really like to
>> "close the book" on that question.
>> 
>> Peter, please contact me off-line and we can talk about getting you a
>> Busby, in some format.  If anyone else out there wants to become the
>> new go-to guy for Busby books, please speak up.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Doug Farrow