Off the Mark

Earlier today I made a post that I have since removed.  I hereby apologize for dissing Bernie DeKoven in that post.  I was extremely tired this morning and misinterpreted his comment.  That is not supposed to be an excuse; just the reason for my misunderstanding his post.

Yes, it seems I am guilty, along with probably 1000s of other people, in linking to a site that did not properly attribute its source.  I’m not sure how bad I feel about that in this instance.  I had no way of knowing that was the case and I did treat the artwork in an appreciative manner.  If I had known the author of the work I would have certainly attributed him and linked to him.  I have gone back and done so in my previous post.  I have also removed one of the links to the site that pointed me to the false source of the photos of Takashi Itoh’s wonderful sculptures in fruit.  I left one in place because that is proper attribution of my original source, and also hopefully helps to not obscure the details of this discussion.

Now then Bernie, I’ve been a big boy here and owned up to what I have done and I have apologized to you.  I also see that you owe a few folks an apology.  I decided to look around your site since it is about fun, and Lord knows I could use a little of that in my life.

Take a look at your post from 6 April 2005, The Official Rules of Calvinball!

Let’s see here Mr. DeKoven—you say "I find myself with no option other than to quote, liberally:" and then go on to quote, almost in its entirety, this web page.   You are most probably in direct violation of copyright here.  I seriously doubt that a case could be made for fair use.  And you did have an option; you could have simply provided a link to the page.  There is nothing that says you have to reproduce the rules yourself.

Now for the real kicker.  Take a look around Sam Ryan’s site, especially his About page.  It looks pretty darn clear that he is definitely in direct violation of fair use provisions of copyright law, and yet you steal his material and then link to him; someone who is another definite copyright infringer!

You are guilty of exactly what you accused me of, yet, unlike in your case, I had no way of knowing I was doing so.  Bernie DeKoven, you owe Sam Ryan, Bill Watterson and me apologies.

I’m not sure why you are more touchy about fruit sculpture and photographs of it as art than comic art and the ideas expressed through that medium, but there is little or no difference in required attribution or fair use rights.

If comments are not closed at Ann’s post (my original source) I am going to put in a comment with links to my 1st watermelon art post, this post, and your post that holds me up as a bad example.

Maybe this further explication of your behavior cancels out the good karma I got for being the big man in this situation, but I don’t care.  If you are going to accuse someone of something, especially in a public forum, you had darn well better be prepared to look in the mirror before you do so, or be willing to take your lumps when they come.

I do sincerely apologize for my early morning post that dissed you.  But I am also waiting on one from you.  By the way, notice that I do allow trackbacks and comments.  Since we’re all human—understandable maybe, forgiveness yes.