Seeking J Sweets, plus a 303 site 4U

[Edward Horton]

The truth in this matter is this started a few years ago when Steve Redgwell complained and threatened legal action at two websites if I did not remove the Canadian manuals from my manual stickies. I wrote to the Canadian Government and Canada does not copyright these manuals as evidenced by the downloads at Badgers website.

On top of this all copyright laws must be reciprocal between two countries and the U.S. does not copyright military manuals, the U.S. Constitution starts off “We the people” meaning that what belongs to the government belongs to the people.

I received more hate email from people about losing money on the Enfield manuals they were “selling” and hate mail about losing money on selling copies of Sweets and Reynolds books online than you can imagine. And Badger got these books from me in Adobe .pdf format and it would be nice to see what correspondence Badger has received to clear this up on the Sweets book.

If this wasn’t bad enough other people complained about the manuals and books to the websites and their only possible reason for this was they did want any competition when it came to handing out answers in the forums about Enfield Rifles.

The shame of it all is I have the manuals and books, I have read them all, I would like to hand them out to help Enfield owners and people are trying to stop me for their own personal gain or greed.

I have thousands of pages of information that need to be convert to .pdf format but the harassment and flak I’m getting makes it not worth it anymore, Vic at Gunboards is accusing me of “selling copyrighted material” because of these back stabbing people.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Dimitri]

I received more hate email from people about losing money on the Enfield manuals they were “selling”.

If its the original manual you copied no one can threaten a copyright over it. But if its a re-edited version then the person who edited the book does have a copy right on the "new" work.

Its the same way publishers can claim a copyright over a Shakespeare play, they re-edited the play into their "new" book, so you have a new item that can be copyrighted.

I could copy word for word the contents since it in itself is not copyrighted (such as by writing it all on the computer), but to copy it page by page (by formatting the copy to match, or to scan/photocopy) is not permissible due to reproducing the original re-edited version that has a new and current copyright.

Dimitri

[Alan de Enfield]

The shame of it all is I have the manuals and books, I have read them all, I would like to hand them out to help Enfield owners and people are trying to stop me for their own personal gain or greed.

I have thousands of pages of information that need to be convert to .pdf format but the harassment and flak I’m getting makes it not worth it anymore, Vic at Gunboards is accusing me of “selling copyrighted material” because of these back stabbing people.

Well, I for one, would like to thank you Ed - I''ve found the manuals you had / have to have been very useful. 'More power to your elbow'

[Strangely Brown]

Well, I for one, would like to thank you Ed - I''ve found the manuals you had / have to have been very useful. 'More power to your elbow'

But surely copying someone else's book rather than buying a copy is just taking the p1ss?

What if you had written it?

[Edward Horton]

At this time only one single book is in question (to me) and that is Jim Sweets “Competitive Rifle Shooting”, Badger wrote to the British book publisher on RGB Reynolds book and has permission to use it because the publisher has no plans to have further printings. I just want to see concrete proof that the Sweet book is legally copyrighted because it is over 50 years old.

Badger also has his Lee Enfield On-line Knowledge Libraries (Index of Articles) with a vast amount of material in it.

None of the Canadian military manuals or British manuals are in question by the Canadian or British Government and never have been.


Strangely Brown

When I placed Jim Sweets book in my manual sticky for download and Badger also had it for download the book was over 50 years old (past the copyright date) it was no longer in print (generating money for anyone) and the author was dead. (The same applied to the Reynolds book) Two years later someone contacts Badger and states the Sweet book is again copyrighted by Jim Sweets daughter and we both removed the book from our download page.

The people who contacted and bitched at me were selling their original printed copies of the Sweet and Reynolds books online at places like eBay and I was ruining the “resale” value of their book online. I had also obtained my copy of Sweets book on eBay, please remember the price kept going up and up demanding higher and higher resale prices and Ed was giving it away free and making the rat bastards who were price gouging everyone mad.

Also remember this, I was NOT selling anything, I was donating material for educational purposes only, and now what is angering a few Americans is the military manuals I put in my sticky that put them out of business as Enfield experts dispensing this information.

[Strangely Brown]

Ed, I fully accept that you did not seek to gain financially out of Jim Sweet's or Major Reynolds book; I do however think it was bad form not to try and establish what the situation was on copyright before putting those two books on the web.

On page two of my copy; seventh edition (7·62) 1982 it clearly states:

"ALL RIGHTS RESERVED except: this book may be used to instruct others, but it is not to be photo-copied, recorded, reproduced or transmitted by any means without prior permission of the publisher."

And that I would surmise is pretty clear and to the point!

[Edward Horton]

Ed, I fully accept that you did not seek to gain financially out of Jim Sweet's or Major Reynolds book; I do however think it was bad form not to try and establish what the situation was on copyright before putting those two books on the web.

On page two of my copy; seventh edition (7·62) 1982 it clearly states:

"ALL RIGHTS RESERVED except: this book may be used to instruct others, but it is not to be photo-copied, recorded, reproduced or transmitted by any means without prior permission of the publisher."

And that I would surmise is pretty clear and to the point!

Strangely Brown

I do not know which book you are talking about BUT think real hard and try and remember the last time you saw either book at Gunboards. Once Badger had them he advised me to remove them from my sticky and started the legal leg work, Badger did the following, checked on the legal and copyright status and printed the following below:

The Sweet family if what has been said is true was a little late renewing the copyright status, IF it is in fact true. Was it bad form on my part for not hiring a lawyer/solicitor and researching the over 50 year old matter, lets just say it was a very gray legal matter not dealing with money and both Reynolds and Sweet were dead and the books were long out of print, please read below about “research purposes only” which IS legal.


The Lee-Enfield Rifle By Major E.G.B. Reynolds - 1960
Publisher: Herbert Jenkins, London
Publication Date: 1960 (Second Printing 1962)

Observations: by Badger

Before Ian Skennerton's excellent research books on the Lee-Enfield came along, one of the best collector’s publications was "The Lee-Enfield" by Major E.G.B. Reynolds. This book was originally published in hard cover back in 1960 and is 224 pages long, including hundreds of black & white photos and line drawings. It's an excellent read and for me, often fills in the gaps that I don’t get out of Skennerton's fine books. Major E.G.B. Reynolds died in 1979, but I would like to thank Lionel Leventhal, the original (now retired) publisher at Greenhill Books for his insights and personal feedback about his old friend “Eddie”, as well as his assistance and guidance through emails and telephone discussions surrounding the handling of Major E.G.B. Reynolds original work.

Library Conditions: The electronic PDF file of this publication remains the copyright of Major E.G.B. Reynolds, his estate and heirs, as well as the original publisher: Herbert Jenkins, London, and their successors. It is made available on this site internally as a library tool for this membership’s research purposes only and it is not for resale, or is any financial consideration being charged or requested for its use. By signing out this publication from the Knowledge Library, you are agreeing as a member of MILSURPS.COM, not to provide it to any non-member of MILSURPS.COM, or make it available elsewhere on the Internet for any purpose, either commercially for re-sale profit, or otherwise. If you do not agree with these terms, then please DO NOT access the publication in this Knowledge Library. Violation of these terms may lead to the suspension of your membership to this site, as well as financial penalties under the copyright act. Thank you for your consideration in regards to honoring these terms and conditions.

Complete 1954 edition of James Sweet’s “Competitive Rifle Shooting”

UPDATE: Although this book was original published over 50 years ago in 1954, we have been advised that it may once again be commercially available again in print format from the author's daughter, Linda Sweet. She indicates her father died in 1992 and therefore under our Canadian laws, copyright passes to his estate and is valid for 50 years following his death. Therefore, we have temporarily suspended the download of this library article, while we check its copyright and public domain status to ensure there's no infringement. We apologize to the membership for any inconvenience during this process.

[Amatikulu]

I think this thread has reached a conclusion. RJWT32 has his answer and knows where he can buy a copy of the book from.

The download issue has been explained and until the copyright has been resolved there is not much more that is productive that can be said about it.

Let's move on