AW: All German Comics online

[cwiljes@bol.de]

Cord:
> You might be interested in this new site which showcases a 
> nearly complete
> database of all German comics. Complete with creator credits, 
> cover scans and value:
> 	http://www.comicguide.de

Harry:
> Very interesting!
> The contents and credits for the Disney comics are clearly stolen from our
> INDUCKS database, without a trace of acknowledgement.
> "Copyright Star Media". Yeah, right.

I was not aware of this. But I had noticed that they have extensive
knowledge about Disney publications. In fact better knowledge than could be
expected considering the fact that in the past no credits were given inside
the comics.

We have an ethical problem here: On the one hand the people who created the
site did this as a public service and (at least for now) do not earn any
money with it. On the other hand they have used knowledge (=intellectual
property) gathered by others without asking for permission and even without
acknowledging other people's work.

In my opinion this is completely unacceptable. Does the cause justify the
means? Sometimes it does, but clearly not in this case, where other
solutions were possible. How much time and knowledge was needed to build the
INDUCKS database? I have done something similar on a much smaller scale by
indexing my own comics, so I have a grasp of what this means. All the more
frustrating to see it copied.

Cord