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September 21, 2003
Who owns alphabetic order?
Here's a lovely story. There's a hotel in NYC that has laid itself out according to the Dewey Decimal System, with each floor a different category, and then each room on that floor a special topic within the category. And then each room is supplied with a range of books in that special topic. The Library Hotel overlooks the NYPL, so it's not a completely random thing.
Problem is, apparently, a "nonprofit" organization, the Online Computer Library Center, owns the rights to the DDS, and has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit. It seems that every library wishing to use the DDS must pay the OCLC something like $500 a year. Which goes some distance to explaining why every university library I've even been in uses Library of Congress to organize their holdings. Anyhow, in the 3 years since the Library Hotel opened, they've neglected their "duty" to pay a license fee for their floorplan, and therefore the OCLC believes that it is entitled to triple the hotel's profits.
Umm...what?!
"I would term it straight-out trademark infringement," said Joseph R. Dreitler, a trademark lawyer with the Columbus office of Jones Day, which represents the Online center. "A person who came to their Web site and looked at the way (the hotel) is promoted and marketed would think they were passing themselves off as connected with the owner of the Dewey Decimal Classification system."
Oh, yes. And when I went to the Luxor in Las Vegas last summer, I went because the way the casino is promoted and marketed led me to believe that they were passing themselves off as connected with Egypt. By the way, Egypt, if you need someone to represent you in your upcoming trademark infringement suit against the Luxor, let's talk.
It's abhorrent that a classification system developed in 1873 shouldn't be public domain, especially when you consider that it's used (probably) exclusively in local libraries. I understand and acknowledge that it takes work to classify new releases, but still. The OCLC claims to cater to more than 45,000 libraries. If all of those libraries are renting out the DDS, they've got more than 20 million dollars a year coming in, not for the work they actually do (which I assume they also charge for), but to rent out the right for local libraries to do the work themselves in a fashion that the OCLC owns the right to.
I have more to say, but I need to contact my lawyer. I don't want both all my readers to come to my Web site and look at the way (the weblog) is promoted and marketed and think I was passing myselves off as connected with the owner of the Dewey Decimal Classification system.
Posted by cgbrooke at September 21, 2003 10:57 PM