[Heath] Heathkit Closing Shop Again

[Glen Zook]

Heath sold the copyrights only on the amateur radio equipment to the particular individual involved.  All the other copyrights were retained by whatever became of the various product lines.  I believe that the copyrights on the amateur radio equipment are of the most concern to the participants on this particular forum.  One has to remember that amateur radio equipment was only one facet of the old Heath empire and the company sold a lot more test equipment, "CB" equipment, and into other areas.

It was the fact that the individual who purchased the copyrights on the amateur radio equipment chose to enforce the Copyright Law of the United States where those manuals were concerned that has caused concern in the ranks of amateur radio operators.  It has been debated "until the cows come home" about the "morals" of that individual enforcing those copyrights.  No matter what a person's "view" on this, the copyright owner definitely has the legal right to determine just which individuals and/or companies have the right to reproduce the material.

As far as ORIGINAL manuals are concerned, selling, giving away, or trading those is perfectly legal under the Berne Convention which is the international authority on copyrights and the United States is signatory to that convention.  The problems that come into play are with those companies who sell copies of the manuals and with individuals who make copies available to others.  It is legal for the owner of a legally produced copy of a copyrighted item to make a copy for his/her personal use to be used as a "working copy", etc.  However, it is definitely a violation of the copyright law to make a copy of the original material and distribute it to anyone else.  If the original item is sold, traded, given away, etc., then, by law, the "working copy" must either accompany the original or else be destroyed.

Certain excerpts from a copyrighted item may be copied (i.e. a schematic, tuning instructions, etc.) for use and even, under certain conditions, for limited distribution.  But, this "fair use" clause does not allow copying large portions of the item or the item as a whole.

The fact that someone publishes something on the Internet does NOT put the item in the public domain!  The item remains copyrighted unless the copyright holder releases the item into the public domain.

Every month, or two, these same arguments about copyrights come up on almost every forum dealing with amateur radio.  Everyone has an opinion and many persons are definitely against the enforcement of the copyright law.  Well, at least where they are personally concerned and their desire to obtain material at little, or no, cost.

I personally hold over 1000 copyrights and therefore am on the side of copyright enforcement.  However, I generally will allow republication of virtually everything that I have written IF there is absolutely nothing charged for publication in which the material appears.  IF the person / company is making money from the republication of my copyrights then I definitely want a "piece of the pie"!  In any case, someone wanting to use my copyrighted material must contact me by letter or E-Mail and then I almost always give permission.  What other copyright owners do is rightfully their business and their business alone.

I certainly hope that this subject dies a quick death because it has been hashed, re-hashed, and re-hashed again many more times in the past.  Absolutely nothing is going to change unless the copyright law is changed.
 
Glen, K9STH


Website:  http://k9sth.com


________________________________
 From: Mark Garlanger <garlanger at gmail.com>

Heath did not sell the copyrights to the other company. I contacted Heath 
inquiring about the old 8-bit computer documentation. Lori Marciniak, 
the CEO, in Aug. 2011 replied:

"We retain the copyright to all
Heath/Heathkit product material."

This is also stated on the wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit

Also,
 even though bankruptcy, doesn't release the manuals into the public domain, 
unless someone buys up the rights. there is no one with legal standing 
to sue the website hosting the manuals. At least that is how I think it 
works, but IANAL. 
Their computer related manuals are in an even grayer legal area. The 
computer business was split from the educational division and sold to 
Packard Bell. Depending on how the legal contracts were written up, the 
rights to the computer manuals could have easily been transferred to 
Packard Bell.
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