Terms and Conditions

The US Copyright Office has supplied this definition for the meaning of publication:

In the current copyright law, “publication” is defined as “the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. The offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display, constitutes publication. A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication” (17 USC sec. 101). [1]

According to this definition, a public display of a work (as on this website) is not the same as publishing a work. Thus, while I have posted this book on the Internet for public viewing, I am still classifying it as an unpublished work. The following reasons have led me to classify the material posted on this website as unpublished:

I am not selling or transferring the ownership of this material to any party.

I am not renting, leasing or lending the ownership of this material to any party.

I am not offering this material to any party for further distribution, public performance or public display (as on a different website).

Even thought I am classifying the material on this website as an unpublished work, I have the same right to control reproduction of the material posted on this website as any other copyright holder or publishing house. I reserve the right to limit reproduction of this material at some later day to the vague definition of the Fair Use limitation of US Copyright law. Until that time, I ask that you comply with the following guidelines for reproduction of this material:

1.    No part of the material posted on this website may be used for commercial purposes, unless the excerpt falls within the Fair Use limitation of US Copyright law.

2.    I can grant no permission to print any document unless the corresponding copyright information is included (i.e., page header/footer, endnotes, and acknowledgement section). For this reason, only complete documents should be printed (i.e., no less than a chapter).

3.    You have my permission to download a single copy of each document posted on this website and/or to obtain a single print copy of each document for personal and non-commercial use.

4.    For small groups, a single person has my permission to print multiple copies of each document provided they have the intention of distributing one copy to each group member at no cost (a variant of Item 2).

5.    For small groups, the members of a small group have my permission to share the cost of using an on-line printing service to obtain a single printed copy for each group member (a variant of Item 2).[2]

6.    For non-commercial use (such as posting on a website or including an excerpt in a private email) you may quote up to 500 of my own copyrighted words provided that you include my copyright information and an appropriate reference/link to my website.[3]

7.    If you have a special need that requires quoting more than 500 of my own copyrighted words, please contact me using contact form that is located on this webpage: http://sites.google.com/site/factofevolution/contact.

8.    Please be aware that I cannot grant permission to quote the copyrighted material of others that is embedded in my work. Perhaps some of this material may be legally quoted under Fair Use guidelines. But as described above, nobody can say for sure.

9.    If you choose to quote the copyrighted material of others without obtaining permission of the copyright holder, you do so at your own legal risk (as I cannot predict the legal actions other copyright holders may choose to take).

10.     In all cases where material from this website is quoted, please include an appropriate reference/link to my website and the corresponding footnote and copyright information for any quoted material.[4]

The intent of these guideline is to encourage respect of copyrighted material – whether my own, or that of others. I believe that if you stay within these guidelines, you will limit your own legal risk of a potential copyright violation. Please practice common decency in using this website.

Notes and References

[1].   “Copyright Registration for Online Works,” United States Copyright Office, May 2009, http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ66.pdf.

[2].   More information about on-line printing services is contained in the About Printing document accessible at: http://sites.google.com/site/factofevolution/.

[3].   An example of a proper reference/link to my website is: David M. Kern, The Fact of Evolution?, <Chapter Number –“Chapter Name”>, <Date in Document>, <Page-Number from PDF or MS-Word Document>, http://sites.google.com/site/factofevolution/. If you are quoting from the “PDF Print Version” of the entire book, please include “Print Version” before the page number – as the page numbers for the print version are different than for the individual chapters.

[4].   An example of a proper reference/link to my website is: David M. Kern, The Fact of Evolution?, <Chapter Number –“Chapter Name”>, <Date in Document>, <Page-Number from PDF or MS-Word Document>, http://sites.google.com/site/factofevolution/. If you are quoting from the “PDF Print Version” of the entire book, please include “Print Version” before the page number – as the page numbers for the print version are different than for the individual chapters.