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Mind you, if someone asked, I'd be reasonably willing to pass on a copy. This has happened, exactly once.

If I were relucant to do so, or someone interested in the MCNF problem couldn't find me, then it might well be worth $30 to them to get a copy of the thesis.

I would consider that price fairly outrageous, at around $0.21 per page, but while the price is fairly high, it's not likely to be a spectacular "profit centre" that I'd expect personally to rake in money over.

If I "went into business" selling copies of theses, printed as one-offs, $30 per thesis isn't an outrageous rate; I expect it would cost $15 a pop to search the microfilms and set it up for printing.

It's undoubtedly legal; it's not a "Napster-like" situation. And if my thesis proved to be a "best seller," I do have copyright so that I could sell it for a price undercutting UMI's pricing.

Hey, mine's only $29.95 unbound ($24.85 for Citizens Club members)! I feel so insulted!

By the way, if anyone buys the hardbound edition ($69.50), I'll autograph it for you.
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You can also pay your hard earned money for documents that aren't copyrighted at all. Go here to pay $2 for a Lord Byron speach from 1827!

What makes me mad about all of this is the following:

My university required me to have my thesis "published" by UMD

UMD requires that you hand over to them the right redistribute your thesis

You have to pay for this, out of pocket, the university passes the charges to you

UMD will then gladly sell you a copy of your dissertation at a 10% discount.

and UMD gets to sell these things to other people, hence UMD is making money off of Contentville.

Besides, the bastards are slow (my thesis is not online yet there but you can find it here. At least they have my my moms online....

I have mixed feelings to find that my masters thesis on Cache Scheduling is available there.

It's nice in some ways - I can easily link to it from an on-line resume, for example, and it might help some researcher find my work.

But overall, I don't approve of Contentville's use of my copyrighted material: in particular, selling it for a profit.

It's not that I don't want people reading it. After all, I wrote it with the expectation that other researchers would use it and hopefully benefit from it. That's the whole point of the scientific method.

My thesis is copyright by me. I have allowed the University of Victoria library unlimited rights to make FREE copies of it for the purposes of interlibrary loans and whatnot - that's part of the deal with publishing it at UVic. But I'm sure that no-one is supposed to profit from copying it except (optionally) me.

I'm going to check the details of the copyright on my thesis tonight. Then I'll be writing a letter to Contentville demanding that they give my thesis away for free (or at most the cost of copying and postage).


Torrey Hoffman (Azog)

From http://www.contentville.com/c ontent/dissertations.asp
Where do Contentville's dissertations come from?

Excerpts from the UMI® Dissertation Abstracts database are being used by Contentville, which, in turn, collects orders for full-text dissertations. Dissertation orders are fulfilled by UMI® Dissertations Publishing, whose mission is to expand scholarly communication and improve access to academic research. All Dissertation Publishing Agreements with authors remain in effect. Dissertation authors retain all rights to their dissertations. All sales will be tracked for royalty payments. All contracted royalties will be paid, per the agreement. The UMI program continues to expand access to research and maintain a permanent archive of scholarly works. Wider distribution of dissertation research is intended to support the international scholarly community.

UMI is a Bell & Howell" company (I think that's the company that makes educational film strips, and slide projectors). All I can find on copyright from UMI, is how they are will to act as your agent in applying for a copyright. (see this) But on a page linked from there, they say:
UMI publishes dissertations and theses only from accredited institutions and only with a signed publishing agreement from each author. We offer free informational packets with comprehensive details about the publishing process and other UMI services, along with the forms to fill out.

So my guess is that only the abstracts have been 'stolen', and that if you haven't signed an agreement your dissertation isn't really available.

I just called Ms Seda to discuss the matter of her selling my copyrighted work. I was very polite, I simply want to know by what right her company can sell my work. She didn't answer, so I left a message that included my telephone number. I don't suppose I'll ever hear back from her, but if I do I'll post a follow-up here.

BTW, my thesis is available for free from my web page. Truth be told, I'm always so happy whenever anyone wants to read the damn thing that I trip over my own feet to email them a copy. It's not that I expect to make money off of this, I would have just liked to have been notified in advance. The irony is that I now know how the musicians feel about Napster.

Excerpts from the UMI® Dissertation Abstracts database are being used by Contentville, which, in turn, collects orders for full-text dissertations. Dissertation orders are fulfilled by UMI® Dissertations Publishing, whose mission is to expand scholarly communication and improve access to academic research. All Dissertation Publishing Agreements with authors remain in effect. Dissertation authors retain all rights to their dissertations. All sales will be tracked for royalty payments. All contracted royalties will be paid, per the agreement. The UMI program continues to expand access to research and maintain a permanent archive of scholarly works. Wider distribution of dissertation research is intended to support the international scholarly community.

It sounds like they may just be selling the packaging (ie Hardback, Softback, Unbound) like Red Hat sells the CD and manuals. I don't know about the legal status regarding the copyrights, but atleast they are "supposedly" paying any applicable royalties.

This link..

CONTENTVILLE.COM COPYRIGHT POLICY Contentville.com will block access to and/or remove any material that it believes in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and submitted to our site. This policy shall cover all aspects of Contentville.com, including, but not limited to user comments or other content submitted to our site. What to do if you think a copyright is being infringed: -- Identify where or whom the material is from. --Tell us how the rightful owner may be contacted. -- Give us a statement of good faith belief that the material is infringing, and that the information provided is accurate and the complaint is authorized by the copyright holder. -- Send the notice of Copyright infringement to the following Designated Copyright Infringement Agent for Contentville.com: Catherine Seda Copyright Agent of Contentville.com Contentville.com 1230 Avenue of the Americas 16th Floor New York, NY 10020 212-332-6400 or via email to: copyright@Contentville.com Once we receive this information, we will: -- Block the infringing material or site -- Notify the infringing user -- In the case of a first time offender, the infringing material will be removed. -- In the case of repeat offenders, we will endeavor to remove them permanently from the site.

It's interesting that Steven Brill and his settlement with writers are mentioned, since, as you can see here, he is, in fact, the CEO of Contentville

See: http://www.contentville.com/c ontent/dissertations.asp

You probably did give UMI rights to redistribute (you have to, right?)

Greg

I don't know about other schools, but I do know that at RIT, they do posess a lot of control over your theses. In fact, RIT can claim copyright over anything done by students for a project, or created using school resources.

And you can get all the theses from the library.

As for Contentville, it seems that they have purchased some rights to these documents (or they are of the public domain).

It looks like some schools might be submitting their theses to this database to be incorporated, and then put up for sale.

Please see this link:

http://www.contentville.com/c ontent/dissertations.asp

*from the page*

Excerpts from the UMI® Dissertation Abstracts database are being used by Contentville, which, in turn, collects orders for full-text dissertations. Dissertation orders are fulfilled by UMI® Dissertations Publishing, whose mission is to expand scholarly communication and improve access to academic research. All Dissertation Publishing Agreements with authors remain in effect. Dissertation authors retain all rights to their dissertations. All sales will be tracked for royalty payments. All contracted royalties will be paid, per the agreement. The UMI program continues to expand access to research and maintain a permanent archive of scholarly works. Wider distribution of dissertation research is intended to support the international scholarly community.

--Brandon

from Copyright and Trademark

We would like you to know about the terms and conditions under which Contentville.com provides its services to you.

COPYRIGHT
Except for materials in the public domain, all of the content on Contentville.com is the property of Contentville.com or its content suppliers and is protected by copyright laws. This includes text, graphics, logos, icons, images and software. The compilation of all content on this site is the exclusive property of Contentville.com and is also protected by copyright laws. The content and software on this site may be used for shopping, searching and selling. Any other use, including the reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display, or performance is prohibited.

TRADEMARKS
CONTENTVILLE.COM; the CROSS-CONTENT SEARCH services; ALL STAR NEWSPAPER; BEHIND THE CONTENT; and READERS REJOICE are service marks of Content Commerce L.P. Our logos are also service marks. Content Commerce L.P. service marks may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not ours, or in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among customers, or in any manner that disparages or discredits Contentville.com.

USE OF OUR CONTENT
This site or any portion of this site may not be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, or used for any commercial purpose that is not expressly permitted by Contentville.com. We reserve the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, and/or cancel orders in our discretion, including, without limitation, if we believe that user conduct violates applicable law or is harmful to our interests.

VISITORS' POSTINGS
When you post anything on Contentville.com you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, publish, create derivative works from, distribute and display such postings throughout the world in any media. You also grant us the right to use any name that you submit with anything you post. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the materials you post on this site and that their use by Contentville.com will not infringe upon or violate the rights of any third party.

CONTENTVILLE.COM COPYRIGHT POLICY
Contentville.com will block access to and/or remove any material that it believes in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and submitted to our site.

This policy shall cover all aspects of Contentville.com, including, but not limited to user comments or other content submitted to our site.

What to do if you think a copyright is being infringed:

-- Identify where or whom the material is from.
--Tell us how the rightful owner may be contacted.
-- Give us a statement of good faith belief that the material is infringing, and that the information provided is accurate and the complaint is authorized by the copyright holder.
-- Send the notice of Copyright infringement to the following Designated Copyright Infringement Agent for Contentville.com:

Catherine Seda
Copyright Agent of Contentville.com
Contentville.com
1230 Avenue of the Americas
16th Floor
New York, NY 10020
212-332-6400
or via email to: copyright@Contentville.com

Once we receive this information, we will:

-- Block the infringing material or site
-- Notify the infringing user
-- In the case of a first time offender, the infringing material will be removed.
-- In the case of repeat offenders, we will endeavor to remove them permanently from the site