In the list serve this month there was a fairly lively topic about saving a copy of the video ADD and Loving It! Adult ADHD documentary. The video was scheduled to run for only one week. People wanted to make it available to the public longer than that.(Since it’s been learned that it is still availabe on line here: http://bit.ly/rRp0g Read a short review here.
Recently I saw an interesting post in the SitePoint.com about a legal battle over selling/reselling copyrighted software.
The barest of details are these:
A guy tried to sell on eBay “full legal copies of AutoCAD on eBay.” He got in big trouble and a legal battle ensued.
In the end the court ruling [emphasis is mine]:
allows the licensed party to transfer software ownership and the copyright owner has no say in the matter. Software companies are selling a product that an end-user owns; if they receive the full value up-front, they cannot control that software once it’s in the stream of commerce.
Why does this matter to coaches?
There is a great deal of copied (and I’m not talking copyrighted) material floating around. Someone likes Linda Anderson’s Circle of ADHD (available to members here) But it’s a drawing on paper. Anyone could copy it and claim it.
Would paying the money to copyright the circle matter, in the big picture of life? If she were out scouring the web for copies and then prosecuting .. maybe. I’m guessing she’s not. HOWEVER, does this make it right to copy it and call it a hypothetical person’s own?
As I write this I wonder if this sounds like I am advising FOR stealing under the no-one-will-know banner? Ah, but I’m not.
What has occurred to me is the great value in the relationship building that might come, if I wrote to Linda Anderson and ASKED if I could use her wheel.
Her name on my form will not lose me clients. But the relationship I might build might be something more valuable indeed.
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