Illegal PDFs

[Arnwyn]

But... What if I buy your PDF and email a copy to my grandmother, who don't know what a role playing game is let alone how to read a PDF file? That is technically an illegal copy, but I don't see how you lose your $5 here.

Actually, read Phil's statement again. I was going to point out that he was patently wrong... but he's not. He worded his statement very carefully:

For every illegal copy of the PDF in question sold I lose $5. $5 may not sound like much but it adds up.

Emphasis mine.

 

[DonTadow]

This is a good example of sharing supporting a product. However, you are in a minority. I lurked on a few D&D warez forums when working up how I wanted to do security for my pdf. Out of three or four dozen people over a period of about a month, I never saw one mention of any effort to support the companies or authors of the products they "shared". In one case, WotC had a release out and people were complaining that nobody had scanned the book on the day of release. From that, I simply have a very hard time believing that the overwhelming majority of file sharers have any other intention than to get books for free.

I think we're in a minority. I share edited copies of pdfs such as the EOM that I present on a broad scale to my players and thats it. And when i say edited it is only the part of the book that is relevant to their characters. It is my hope they buy the entire book if they want to know more.

I could care less about Hasbro, they will be around. But it pisses me off to see the little guy get smashed. Like you said phill 5 bucks is a lot of money when you're talking about accumulating and without hte little guy this business goes big brother in favor of WOTC.

 

[philreed]

Actually, read Phil's statement again. I was going to point out that he was patently wrong... but he's not. He worded his statement very carefully:

I've had a little experience with this subject.

 

[LloydBrown]

From wikipedia:



Stolen refers to theft, and copyright infrignement is not theft.

Wikipedia is volunteer written. I've written wikipedia entries. Authoring a wikipedia entry doesn't necessarily indicate any expertise or knowledge.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

and that original auction is still up too..
oy vey.

Its jerks like this that make file traders really look like evil selfish greedy villans.

 

[Psionicist]

Wikipedia is volunteer written. I've written wikipedia entries. Authoring a wikipedia entry doesn't necessarily indicate any expertise or knowledge.

Okay, I'll have to quote DOWLING v. UNITED STATES (1985) then.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&court=US&case=/us/473/207.html

(a) The language of 2314 does not "plainly and unmistakably" cover such conduct. The phonorecords in question were not "stolen, converted or taken by fraud" for purposes of 2314. The section's language clearly contemplates a physical identity between the items unlawfully obtained and those eventually transported, and hence some prior physical taking of the subject goods. Since the statutorily defined property rights of a copyright holder have a character distinct from the possessory interest of the owner of simple "goods, wares, [or] merchandise," interference with copyright does not easily equate with theft, conversion, or fraud. The infringer of a copyright does not assume physical control over the copyright nor wholly deprive its owner of its use. Infringement implicates a more complex set of property interests than does run-of-the-mill theft, conversion, or fraud. Pp. 214-218.

 

[philreed]

and that original auction is still up too..
oy vey.

According to my call with ebay they're not even likely to deal with it until the auction has ended.

Damn! I'm gonna go bid $10,000 on it. I'll refuse to pay and let ebay remove the guy.

Why didn't I think of that earlier?

 

[Temprus]

Sadly this will not end the problem. Most likely this seller will reappear with a new name (and maybe an altered collection) in a few days.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Sadly this will not end the problem. Most likely this seller will reappear with a new name (and maybe an altered collection) in a few days.

True.

But, look at it this way, he'll lose his bidding history. With 250 positives, he'll at least have to start over again.

 

[fanboy2000]

He's also an idiot....

I have not stolen from anyone. I am simply reselling an item that I purchased in order to recoup my loses. I do not know who you are at to which PDFs you are referring to. Although if you are the creator of these then I have several people who would be interested in talking to you. They claim that creating these things was illegal. If you are a legit author of one of something listed, please submit proof and verification of identity and I will remove it. Like I said i'm simply looking to get my money back for what I paid for the stuff and I believe that there will be more than enough items to do so even if I remove a few.

1. This guy's obviously trying to make himself look like, if there is any copyright infringement going on, he's just an innocent bystander in all of this. But he's to stupid to pull it off.

2. I love that "They claim that creating these things was illegal." Really? Then umm, why would they want to talk to Phil? What an jerk this guy is.

3. "If you are a legit author of one of something listed, please submit proof and verification of identity and I will remove it." Now lets apply a little logic to this. (I know, shocking!) But if he can remove Phil's PDFs, then he either a) hasn't burned the CD yet or b) still has the files on his hard drive. Now this suggests that he doesn't have any intention of deleting them after he sells them.

This quote is a favorite:

So maybe if I'm going to be called a thief and prosecuted like one I should actually do something. Like make everything available to everyone free of charge. Or at least tell everyone how to obtain everything for free.

This guy has obviously had his clue surgically removed. He thinks he's some kind of l33t hacker who's knows all the ins and outs of computer piracy and we're just humble little sheep who use AOL and don't know a thing about warez. Whatever.

You don't know anything about what I do or do not have the ability or permissionto do with anything other than your stuff.

Well, the copyright notice is present on every WotC book listed there. That page spells out, publicly, what he can and can't do with the books. One thing he can't do is make an electronic copy and then sell it. Now, I'll concede that it is possible that he has written permission from WotC to sell PDFs of their books on CD, but the likelihood of such a thing is so low, I wouldn't even play the lottery with those odds.