[Coco] The end of the Hot Coco saga?

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Tue, 2005-07-26 at 00:18 -0500, Roger Taylor wrote:

> I think a different approach should have been used with less agression to 
> reach somebody at IDG who has a say in this matter.  Instead of trying to 
> make it happen so quickly by arguing about the copyright laws, some sort of 
> sales pitch might have been effective that convinced the right people at 
> IDG that a completely dead and useless old yellowed magazine is wanted in 
> electronic form for archival purposes by MANY vintage computer users.
> 
> So, since Plan A seems to have failed, maybe Plan B should be a petition 
> from those many people who have a bigger voice than the person from IDG who 
> was so quick to shoot down a good idea.
> 
> 

Maybe so. It had crossed my mind in reading Michael's account that this
might just not be the right person... perhaps there is a higher level
individual at IDG with a broader vision. If such an approach could work,
and contact could be made. Maybe not by Michael since he is now known to
the legal department and they've taken a position, but maybe someone
higher up.

I know that some issues of HotCoco are available on Microfilm, so there
is at least one archival form available for some of the material. I
wonder what department at IDG is responsible for dealing with archival
material? Perhaps contact could be made directly?

That said I don't think from what I read that Michael was really arguing
copyright with the their legal dept, or being aggressive... more like it
seems that the IDG legal department took a stance from the outset that
they were just dealing with questions from the public and to get them
off the plate as quickly and efficiently as possible, sort of like a
tech support agent does. Michael followed the groove where it took him.
Unfortunately because IDG's intent was not to be helpful, that approach
was (in 20/20 hindsight) doomed to failure.

So if there is any hope of getting permission, you probably would have
to go over the legal dept head, as well as give them a solid business
case for releasing the material and maybe a touchy feely background
story about retrocomputing and history and public policy goals of
copyright. But what would carry water is the business case, if one can
be made.

All the people with a sense of pride in the original material are no
longer associated with IDG, unlike Lonnie & Rainbow. So it's all about
the dollars and cents.

Do you think a petition would work? The thought had crossed my mind as
well. How many people could we get to sign? What clout do said
individuals have with IDG? If we could get them to release something,
how many issues could they expect to sell, and at what price? Would it
be enough to justify the cost of clearing up copyright ownership issues.
Or would the community be doing that research work as part of such a
project?

-- John.