More on manuals plus rescue

[Tothwolf]

On Wed, 19 Aug 2015, William Donzelli wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Aug 2015, Jason Scott wrote:
>
>> That is a most interesting metric. I honestly hadn't considered that 
>> issue. The key, I think, will be communication with them to understand 
>> which manuals have sales going on, and which ones it would be 
>> advantageous to get online because they have long dropped into 
>> historical myths. Thank you for the advice. All of it.
>
> Yes, let the guys keep selling the higher demand documents - HP, Tek, 
> Heathkit. Nearly all of those are super common anyway (and plus, you 
> will run into problems posting Heath material). Focus on the weirder 
> stuff - Krohn-Hite, Systron Donner, Clough-Brengle, Packard Instrument, 
> Kay, and the like.
>
> In fact, due to your time constraints, I would not bother with the HP, 
> Tek, or Heathkit manuals at all. They can wait for the next hoard. They 
> are low value targets eating up your limited resources.

I strongly disagree, but I won't repeat my reasoning here since I already 
wrote some of my reasons why in another reply.

As for Heathkit though... Danger, Will Robinson!

While I mentioned legal threats and false DMCA takedowns, I didn't name 
any names, however since Heathkit was brought up, and I did quite a bit of 
research a number of years ago regarding Heathkit manuals, I will name 
names.

Don Peterson, dba "Data Professionals" in Pleasanton, CA 
http://www.d8apro.com/ has for quite a number of years been sending 
questionable legal threats to anyone hosting Heathkit manuals (or selling 
copies of Heathkit manuals on eBay). Despite his "Big Scary Letter", he 
does not appear to actually hold the copyright to /most/ Heathkit manuals 
(if he holds the copyright to any...more recent discussion seems to 
indicate that he was only sold the right to reproduce a selection of 
manuals). ...this of course hasn't stopped hobbyists, and large numbers of 
Heathkit manuals are hosted outside of the US, but quite a number of 
scanned manuals seem to have been (temporarily) lost thanks to his 
efforts.

I did just happen to notice this statement on http://www.d8apro.com/ so 
perhaps this mess is finally coming to an end?

"Press Release April 2015 Data Professionals of Pleasanton California has 
been acquired by Heath Company and will focus on supporting vintage kits 
by providing parts, modification, and even 'Certified Pre-Owned' Heathkits 
for sale. Please watch our site for future developments."

Links:

Tubular Electronics: The Heathkit Copyright Question – More Silly Claims
http://tubularelectronics.com/?p=493

Old Electronics Kit Manuals Forced Offline Thanks To Copyright
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081215/0106043118.shtml

Heathkit Manuals: Should We Do Anything?
http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=137298

Some jerk is squelching Heathkit schematics
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/some-jerk-is-squelching-heathkit-schematics/

Heathkit Manual Copyright Challenged
http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/heathkit-manual-copyright-challenged.373390/

Tubular Electronics: Vintage Books
http://tubularelectronics.com/?page_id=64

pestingers.net: Heathkit Manuals
http://www.pestingers.net/Pages_images/Heathkit/Heathkit_manuals.htm