There is a ferret organization that has, without my permission, stripped my
name *and* copyright notice from a handout I wrote and posted the article
on their website.  The article is virtually verbatum to my original with
only minor changes (changing the title very slightly and adding a reference
to a new product in one paragraph).  Conveniently, they have added their
organization as the contact point.
 
This is called copyright infrigement and carries some rather stiff
penalties.  Black's Law Dictionary says that the penalites for copyright
infringement is "injunctive, impoundment, and civil damages relief,
criminal penalties are also provided for copyright infringement."  These
penalites can be up to $250,000.
 
For most organizations, I will extend permission to reprint articles *with
my permission*.  Currently, the only organizations that have such permission
is the Oregon Ferret Association and Cascade Ferret Network.
 
In this case, I never even received such a request.
 
Do you really think you want to subject your organization (or yourself) to
the lawsuit and fines?  Mind you, I could use the $250,000 for *each*
violation.
 
I'm sure that the offending organization(s) will see fit to have the
article removed from their web site (and cease any other offenses such as
handing out the article) by no later than Wednesday, June 23rd lest I start
drawing up plans for my new house.
 
          -Carla Almaraz
[Posted in FML issue 2716]