Re: Fluke manuals...

On Wed, 26 Jun 2002 10:45:37 -0700, John Robertson <jrr@flippers.com> wrote:

>Does anyone that has sent me scanned material for the Techtools list have a
>problem if they are sent to a more public location? Chuck
>(mayor@cityofberwyn.com) has asked Al for permission to host the spies
>archive and appears to have his permission.
>
>Has anyone ever contacted Fluke to find out their position on posting of
>ancient material on public web sites? I guess we should get clearance first...

I think you might be playing with a hornet's nest here.

If you place the manuals on a website, and they either don't get the attention
of Fluke, or Fluke knows they're there but considers it pretty harmless, then no
problems.

If Fluke sees the manuals and doesn't like them there, they will ask Chuck to
remove them, no problem.

If you force Fluke to respond with permission to publish their manuals on a
website, there's not a corporate lawyer in the country that will give you that
permission. If you look at it from Fluke's point of view, giving you permission
to scan their copyright material will open up a big can of worms for them. (What
constitutes ancient manuals? What manual are they still selling/making money on.
What Fluke employee will they pay to do this research? Etc.) It's easiest, and
cheapest for them to just say no, and give it no more thoughts. Just like it's
easiest and cheapest for them to come across a website of ancient manuals and
think that they aren't hurting anyone, and give it little thought.

But once permission is denied, there's no chance of publishing these manuals
without a possible lawsuit.

I would go with a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on this one. ;-)

-Zonn
Received on Wed Jun 26 12:30:18 2002