ubuntu-manual team mailing list archive

[Hannie Dumoleyn <lafeber-dumoleyn2@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Kevin,
Thanks for informing us about this issue. I do not quite understand why
only the French and Spanish manuals are rejected. How about the English
version? The same rules would apply, I suppose.
Your answer is clear. Let's wait for their reaction.
All this legal stuff is very complicated. Do we have a lawyer in our team :)
Hannie

op 14-11-13 03:36, Kevin Godby schreef:
> Hello, everyone.
>
> Yesterday, someone from CreateSpace's content validation request team
> emailed me to ask for validation that we (I) own the copyright to the
> Ubuntu manuals I've been publishing through CreateSpace.
>
> I assured her that we did own the copyright and, further, that the
> books were CC-licensed and could be copied and printed by anyone.
>
> This evening, she wrote back the following:
>
> "We’ve reviewed the information you provided and have decided to block
> this title from being sold through CreateSpace. The title closely
> matches content that is freely available on the web and we are not
> confident that you hold exclusive publishing rights. For example,
> content from Wikipedia, creative commons content and content with
> private label rights are not allowed since it disappoints our
> customers to pay for content that can be found online for free. As a
> result, we have suppressed this title and removed it from your sales
> channels.
>
> "Please be advised that you must hold exclusive publishing rights for
> titles that closely match content that is freely available on the web.
> If your catalog continues to contain titles that fail to comply with
> these conditions or do not meet our Content Guidelines, your account
> may be terminated.
>
> "To learn more, please see our content guidelines at
> https://www.createspace.com/Help/Rights/ContentGuidelines.jsp";
>
> CreateSpace has now suppressed the French and Spanish manuals and so
> they may be unavailable for purchasing.
>
> I wrote back to the CreateSpace representative, asserting that we hold
> the copyright to the manuals and pointed out that their guidelines
> (linked above) do not exclude Creative Commons materials from being
> published through their site.  I've included my full response to the
> representative below.
>
> I will keep everyone posted on this issue as I learn more. I just
> wanted to give everyone a heads-up in case they were wondering why
> they couldn't purchase one of the manuals.
>
> If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thanks!
>
>
> Here's the email I sent to the CreateSpace representative (Zarla):
>
> Hello, Zarla.
>
> On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 7:38 PM, CreateSpace Validation Request
> <validation-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> We’ve reviewed the information you provided and have decided to block this title from being sold through CreateSpace. The title closely matches content that is freely available on the web and we are not confident that you hold exclusive publishing rights. For example, content from Wikipedia, creative commons content and content with private label rights are not allowed since it disappoints our customers to pay for content that can be found online for free. As a result, we have suppressed this title and removed it from your sales channels.
> Your response seems to be contrary to the guidelines you cite. The
> guidelines state in part: "We will not accept content that is freely
> available on the web *unless you are the copyright owner of that
> content.*" (Emphasis mine.) My team is the copyright owner of the
> content. We publish PDFs of the content on our website and also use
> your service to provided printed and bound versions of the work for
> those who do not wish to print the PDFs on their home printers.
>
> Your argument that you don't publish content that is otherwise freely
> available on the web is undermined by the fact that your guidelines
> acknowledge that you do publish public domain content:  "We do accept
> public domain content..."
>
> In conclusion, I contest your removal of our content and request that
> it be made available again.
>
> Thank you.
>
> —Kevin Godby, The Ubuntu Manual Project
>
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