Book People Archive

Mathworld back online after copyright suit


Earlier the case of _Mathworld_ aka Eric's Treasure Trove of
Mathematics, was discussed on this list, when CRC Press LLC,
hereafter called Chemical Rubber, forced it off the net as a
copyright violation. Chemical Rubber had published Mathworld as a
book after signing a contract with Eric Weisstein.

After a year of lawsuitification, a compromise has emerged.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com  the book/site, back online.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/authors_note.html a short note
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/erics_commentary.html the blow by blow
discription of the legal case, with court papers, letters,
documentation for your edification.

One may boil it down to the advice, don't sign a contract that you
don't throughly understand and agree with.

an excerpt from erics_commentary.html:


"We wanted very much to negotiate a settlement that would allow us
to bring the web site back. We proposed what we thought were
attractive arrangements that would benefit both companies. Our
proposals were ignored.

"For months, I could not imagine why CRC was behaving as it was.
Why would a technical publisher not listen to one of its best-selling
authors and to his employer, the world leader in mathematical
computation? Why treat us, instead, in a way almost guaranteed to
alienate us? It seemed insane!

"I have had to conclude, to my sorrow, that CRC--perhaps like many
other publishers in our era of wild corporate acquisitions and
conglomerations--is no longer managed by people who understand and
love books, authors, and readers.

"The parent company of CRC, Information Holdings Inc., appears
unashamed to treat information as a commodity to be exploited for
short-term, bottom-line cash with no concern for long-term, strategic
planning. The goal of the CRC representatives seemed to be
monomaniacal: to squeeze from Wolfram Research and from me as much
instant and short-term cash as possible, using the lawsuit as a
lever.

"How self-defeating in an era of rapid technological change!
Apparently uninterested in looking forward and building good future
business strategies, here are publishers focusing instead on how
to squeeze greater quantities of immediate cash from old "properties."

"I have come to realize how unusual it is to be working for a
company that is run by people who still enjoy the core activities
for which the company was founded. Very early in the lawsuit, a
Wolfram Research response to the lawsuit mentioned that Wolfram
Research has chosen to remain privately held in order to be free
from the obligation to outside stockholders, who appear so often
to focus corporations inordinately on short-term financial results.
Wolfram Research's principals believe that they can take the long
and broad view of the corporation's mission, as they could not if
they had to satisfy stock analysts and uninvolved stockholders."



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