Pdf files--merc/mercruiser

[rusobr2]

:smt021 something that i have noticed---i have been trying to pull up some of the old pdf files on the merc family ,from some of the other internet sites--their are warnings out there now on the internet ! as of JULY 9th 2010--anyone uploading or downloading merc pdf service manual files is subject to copyright laws,and merc says they will file charges ! you will find some files, but they are being dropped quick ! anyone who has these files in their posession , should only run these through email . check it out when you get the chanch . i'm on the net 4-6 hrs. a day in different forums, (guns,fishing,cars,trucks,and boats),and i'v exhausted my resourses-

steven

 

[fc3]

Merc does not put copyright statements in their service manuals. I think, but I'm not an IP attorney, that without the notice they're on shaky ground. If I remember, I'll ask my brother who is a patent / copyright attorney about it.

 

[Pseudomind]

If I am not mistaken, I believe just a couple of years ago, Mercruiser had a link on their site for downloading manuals in .pdf. So that being the case, how can they all of a sudden be talking about copyright infringement, when they offered the downloads?

 

[rusobr2]

double post --------sorry

 

[rusobr2]

i'm going to post a couple of blogs written in the past few days
*Merc never made them available free... The link they had on their website (over 2 years ago) was password protected and for dealers only.... The password got out and they lost control of the access, so they shut it down. Someone who had already downloaded some or all of the manuals then uploaded them to a file server and offered them up again. That site has now been told by Merc to delete them from the server.

Do I really thing Merc (or anyone else trying to protect copyright) would go after someone with illegal copies of their work? Damn right I do! They only have to nail one person to scare the others, and the cost of the penalty, in Australia, $20,000 for an individual and $100,000 for a business.
*Exactly. They shut them down. Meaning they stopped making them freely available.

Which they previously had done. So you REALLY think they'd go after someone who had previously downloaded a free copy that Merc had previously made available for free?

Maybe they do that in Australia, but I'm from New Jersey and they ain't doin' that here.

I never said you owned the copyright if you made a copy. Of course you don't. Duh!!!!

But if you think Merc is going to prosecute someone for passing on a copy he got for free -- from Merc when Merc was making them available for free -- you cannot actually be serious.

Microsoft is an entirely different situation and has no comparison to this one.
*

I know that Don was forced to remove his service manual links recently; but I also know that prior to that, the service manuals were available for download as a pdf document. Unfortunately, I did not download Service Manual #8, although I did open it and look as some of it.

I still don't know if it could actually be "downloaded" (saved as a pdf file to your hard drive).

But if it could, and anybody here did that and thus has it, could you please PM me. It obviously was available for download at one time; so if you did it then, it's yours now and there's no problem with sharing it with others if you choose to. You didn't steal it; you obtained it legally and you can do
*I have found only these left active
11,13,14,16,20
*Doesn't matter how many times or in how many places a copyrighted item is posted. It's still illegal unless the poster has the owner's permission. Only reason the manuals were available for so long is because Mercruiser didn't choose to exercise their rights until now.

steven