Trying to Find Original Author/Permission to Reprint

[alt63bird]

One of my T-bird club members forwarded me text from an old article that he wants to see printed in our club magazine, saying he found it on a Facebook posting a few years ago and feels that it's public domain/fair use to reprint it without acknowledging the author or getting permissions to reprint. As I'm a responsible person, I want to find the original author to get permission to reprint it. I did find it posted on a website that was generated in 2004 or so: Guy calls himself timmy but I can't tell if he authored it or copied it from someone else.

http://m571.com/yblock/index.htm

The article itself is this:
Tuning Y Block Distributors at Home
http://m571.com/yblock/distributortuning.htm

Anyone got any information on this, who originally wrote it, or how to get ahold of "timmy" so that I don't run afoul of copyright law?

[Dobie Gillis]

I'll bet the ranch it was Tim McMaster, the Y-Block Guy. He's still around and active over on the Y-Blocks Forever forum.

[miker98038]

I suspect dobie's right. Tim's site

http://yblockguy.com

[alt63bird]

Thanks. Have sent him an email to verify if he's the author. The fact that he's into late '50s-early '60s F100s and uses the moniker "timmy" makes me think I'm on the right track.

[Y-Blockhead]

The 'Timmy' of Timmy's Y-Block Page is definetly NOT Tim McMaster.

[alt63bird]

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If it's not Tim McMaster, then who is the mystery "timmy" and who (if anyone) controls the reproduction rights to the articles on 'timmy''s website?

[Ole Don]

If you want your distributor to work right, send it here.

http://www.lindertech.com/bhrs/

Bubba is inexpensive, and one of the best.

[wunderwerks]

I reprinted Ford Shop Manuals for nearly 30 years and dealt with Ford, Ford Licensing and copyright attorneys in the process. In summary: the only protection the original author has is if he copyrighted his information. If it is not copyrighted, he has no protection from reprinting and use by others. The copyright logo and information must be included on the manuscripts to further protect the original author or owner of the material.

[alt63bird]

Thanks, Tinker. I did get confirmation from McMaster that it was not him. Will follow up on the Piegat lead.

[Dobie Gillis]

Hmmm, guess I lose the ranch...

[alt63bird]

Tinker - the email address you pm'ed me didn't work. Still trying to go through Ford Truck Enthusiasts' website to find some way to contact the guy.

[redmodelt]

I would think you are printing it in a club news letter and not selling it so I would just put it in with the statement author unknown. At the time it was posted the author did not feel it was important enough to add their name and the home site it was posted on maybe is no longer in operation.

[alt63bird]

redmodelt - good point. Reference back to the website as the resource may be my best bet at this point to keep from running afoul of the copyright attorneys. But the search still continues.

[paul2748]

I think your flogging a dead horse. Unless used for commercial purposes, most likely there are no repercussions. Just give what credit you can find