hepperle kaput
08-17-2002, 03:00 AM
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hepperle kaput
I was attempting to re-visit a rather favourite & longstanding website by Martin Hepperle, well known aerodynamics & airfoil expert known to many modelers, only to discover he shut the website down on Aug-11 with some disturbing news. Too bad, it was a great resource. I hope its not a sign of the times.
August 11, 2002 Dear Friends, my web pages had been provided to assist you in your hobby for several years now. I have made many friends and could help many people ranging from young school kids to retired engineers answering questions and discussing questions of model aircraft, aerodynamics, engines, history of aircraft and much much more. I learned a lot about technical items but also about people and foreign countries. I was just thinking about adding a new wing analysis tool to these pages and to spend some money for a stable, long term accessible web domain. But then ... Recently I received a letter from German lawyers which forces me to pay about $2000 for copyright infringements. I had placed a small picture of a map on a personal web page to illustrate the location of my flat which I wanted to sell through an internet ad. This map was scanned from a city map, which I had bought 12 years ago. While I can accept my fault without problems, I am disappointed about the way how individuals are being ripped off today. If I were an estate dealer and would use such maps regularly to earn my living I could agree with such procedures. This problem was not directly related to this particular site, but I fear that it is only a matter of time until the same thing happens again. Being not a lawyer, I probably can never make sure that my web pages will not hurt someone's rights, be it trademarks, names or copyrights, offering free service or whatever I cannot imagine in my wildest dreams. In the old times it was the custom that in such a case one was given the opportunity to resolve the matter by adjusting text or images, but today you get sued without any warning.
As I do not earn any money through my web pages, it seems to become a quite expensive hobby of supporting starving layers all over the world - too expensive for me. I have already spent too much money and time in preparing the information on my web pages. I am somewhat disappointed about the current development of the world wide web - any creative ideas and personal work will vanish and will be replaced by purely commercial content. You will not only pay for being plagued with pop up advertisements and faulty script pages but you will also have to pay for any useful information - if there will be any in a few years. What we will probably see is only material prepared by the big companies to increase their profit. I am not sure how, but I would like to bring this service back to you. In order to do so, I need some help. If you have used my pages in the past for your benefit or even for your profit, I would consider it honest if you wanted to send me a small contribution. Best Regards and I hope you have more luck, Martin Hepperle
August 11, 2002 Dear Friends, my web pages had been provided to assist you in your hobby for several years now. I have made many friends and could help many people ranging from young school kids to retired engineers answering questions and discussing questions of model aircraft, aerodynamics, engines, history of aircraft and much much more. I learned a lot about technical items but also about people and foreign countries. I was just thinking about adding a new wing analysis tool to these pages and to spend some money for a stable, long term accessible web domain. But then ... Recently I received a letter from German lawyers which forces me to pay about $2000 for copyright infringements. I had placed a small picture of a map on a personal web page to illustrate the location of my flat which I wanted to sell through an internet ad. This map was scanned from a city map, which I had bought 12 years ago. While I can accept my fault without problems, I am disappointed about the way how individuals are being ripped off today. If I were an estate dealer and would use such maps regularly to earn my living I could agree with such procedures. This problem was not directly related to this particular site, but I fear that it is only a matter of time until the same thing happens again. Being not a lawyer, I probably can never make sure that my web pages will not hurt someone's rights, be it trademarks, names or copyrights, offering free service or whatever I cannot imagine in my wildest dreams. In the old times it was the custom that in such a case one was given the opportunity to resolve the matter by adjusting text or images, but today you get sued without any warning.
As I do not earn any money through my web pages, it seems to become a quite expensive hobby of supporting starving layers all over the world - too expensive for me. I have already spent too much money and time in preparing the information on my web pages. I am somewhat disappointed about the current development of the world wide web - any creative ideas and personal work will vanish and will be replaced by purely commercial content. You will not only pay for being plagued with pop up advertisements and faulty script pages but you will also have to pay for any useful information - if there will be any in a few years. What we will probably see is only material prepared by the big companies to increase their profit. I am not sure how, but I would like to bring this service back to you. In order to do so, I need some help. If you have used my pages in the past for your benefit or even for your profit, I would consider it honest if you wanted to send me a small contribution. Best Regards and I hope you have more luck, Martin Hepperle
08-17-2002, 11:31 AM
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Sad indeed
Wow, Peter...
This is truly tragic. It seems to be a very sad case of someone wanting to profit from what seems like an innocent useage of a old graphic. (the map segment) To sue the man without any "cease and desist" letter or other warning seems terribly unfair, and I certainly hate to see the law taken advantage of that way.
As many have predicted, this age of the "ownership of information" seems, at times, to be getting out of hand. All of us must be careful about what we publish, and those who are actually stealing other's property had better pay attention to this example as a warning.
My sympathy and best wishes for your friend, Peter. I hope he is able to at least cover the costs of this lawsuit with contributions, and better yet, recover enough to continue his web site. (which I have not seen)
This is truly tragic. It seems to be a very sad case of someone wanting to profit from what seems like an innocent useage of a old graphic. (the map segment) To sue the man without any "cease and desist" letter or other warning seems terribly unfair, and I certainly hate to see the law taken advantage of that way.
As many have predicted, this age of the "ownership of information" seems, at times, to be getting out of hand. All of us must be careful about what we publish, and those who are actually stealing other's property had better pay attention to this example as a warning.
My sympathy and best wishes for your friend, Peter. I hope he is able to at least cover the costs of this lawsuit with contributions, and better yet, recover enough to continue his web site. (which I have not seen)
