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Don Smith, Steve Saunders And John Hulme.


henderpump
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Hi everybody,

You must forgive me for bringing this subject up but I think it is a valid query, so I ask you all to bear with me.

A while ago I bought a copy of Steve Saunders' book 'A complete guide to motorcycle trials On trial, my life in motorcycle trials'.

For one reason and another I did not have a good look at it until quite recently.

On reading chapter 7 "how to ride' I had a feeling of de ja vu.

On delving further into the text a lot of the content seemed familiar and I got out my copy of the publication entitled "Ride it! the complete book of motorcycle trials by Don Smith".

I was surprised and puzzled to find that whole swaths of chapter 9 "Riding the hazards" had been reproduced verbatim in Steve's book.

I was expecting there to be an acknowledgement of the original author somewhere within the pages or in the "Finally, thank you' afterword at the end of Saunder's book but I could find no mention of the original author and, on further investigation I found that the publishers claim copyright for the Saunders book with no acknowledgement of Don Smith's material or the original publishers of the material.

I contacted Steve Saunders about my concerns and, apart from saying that he was going to contact his publishers and that he did not know anything about material being taken from Don Smith's book and that he had never set eyes on a copy, he dismissed my rather tongue in cheek enquiry about a refund if I returned the book as " I do not feel this to be appropriate" ( That was me told then, ) and I have heard nothing more from him.

I also contacted Don Smith's publishers and had an acknowledgement of my email and not much further.

I then contacted John Hulme and got a short note back saying he noted my comments and that he now considered communication closed on the subject! I emailed him back saying that wasnt going to work and asking him directly how it was that whole passages had been lifted from Don Smith's book to appear under his publishing company's copyright in Steve Saunder's book. Nothing heard!

Don Smiths book is out of copyright so they are probably clear on that score.

There remains the concern about an author and publisher claiming someone else's work as their own.

Anyone else find this sort of thing distasteful?

Regards,

Joe Henderson.

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Hi,

I regret that my publications are regularly 'pilfered' by the Hulme enterprise - but I have a simple answer, from here on in I make sure that nothing that I publish can be copied.

He even has the 'gall' to put on his sites 'we respect copyright', I suspect he does not know the difference between 'respect' and 'pinch'........

The facts about the copyright on the Steve Saunders book are that they exist in law until seventy years after Steve's death.

I just don't buy - or even believe - anything with the Hulme touch, especially the trialsguru brand.

Original Copyright ....What about 70 years after Don Smith's death?

Poor old Don isn't here to speak up for himself sadly

Edited by johnnyboxer
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Original Copyright ....What about 70 years after Don Smith's death?

Poor old Don isn't here to speak up for himself sadly

Hi johnnyboxer,

Sorry, yes, all copyright lasts for seventy years after the holders death in favour of their estate.

And yes, Don was a personal friend of mine.

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Hi

Well said, Henderpump and the Laird.

That's exactly what I have thought for some time, but have not had the guts to say.

It's the lazy school of journalism, don't research your own original material, just read

what has been published in the past and paraphrase, or it seems in this case, copy outright.

All the mistakes and grey areas are reproduced and we learn nothing new.

In fact, the initial mistakes and grey areas become reinforced into 'fact'.

Regards

Sparks

Edited by sparks2
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It is disappointing that for a niche, enthusiast led sport that originality is no longer seen as important by the publisher.

It is important not to generalise - there are still ethical publishers around - but sadly, usually not well supported by the masses.

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It is disappointing that for a niche, enthusiast led sport that originality is no longer seen as important by the publisher.

And what's worse, think that your paying customers are so stupid or ill informed they won't know the difference.

Edited by sparks2
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Hello everybody, again,

The power of the Young Person's Interweb is truly staggering.

Last night, ( your morning in the other hemisphere ) I had a call from John Hulme. a surprise I must say, but gratifying that he bothered to make contact.

I don't know quite what I was expecting from the call, but I did not expect him to ask ME what it was I was after and how could we make the problem go away.

He asked me if I wanted him to print an apology, by this I assumed that he was admitting that he had stolen material verbatim from Don Smith's book and that he was guilty of plagiarism and copyright infringement.

With a staggering mis-understanding of what he had actually done, his offer to apologise in print, ( made to me, not to the copyright owner ) missed the mark with me completely. I have nothing whatever to do with the publishing world or Don Smith, it is not me that he has made money from ( other than whatever he makes from the purchase price of Steve Saunders' book ) but Don Smith's estate, relatives, agent or whatever is in place, as I said I know nothing about Don Smith's affairs.

I thought it a shabby and sly attempt to shut me up.

I got fairly short with him, told him that I wanted nothing from him, and said that he should send any and all proceeds from the book straight to Don Smith's estate.

That did not go down well, some people really like to hang on to money, and we started to argue and it ended with me hanging up on him.

I am not proud of that, it was very rude of me, but he did catch me on a diverted mobile phone out at sea off Sydney Heads in 30 knots of Southerly Buster, so I have some reason...it's not an excuse though!

As Laird says above, John Hulme does not seem to know the difference between respect and pinch.

An offer of a printed apology in a small circulation, specialist magazine would do nothing to repair the damage done to Steve Saunders, Don Smith and John Hulme,

Very, very shabby I thought.

Regards,

Joe Henderson.

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I have never read Steve Saunders book published by John Hulme's organisation, so I am unable to make a comparison to my treasured copy of 'Ride it' by Don Smith, but if Joe is correct and from Mr Hulme's long distance phone call in an attempt to passify this situation would show there is some substance in it - The least that should happen is an apology to Dons daughter Amanda Lazenby. Having known Don he would have been chuffed that someone had paid such heed to his written word ! Imitation is the best form of flattery......

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Hi, pro sport,

I did not realize that Don had left a daughter, maybe she should be contacted about this topic.

She may find that she is owed some money.

Hulme has not actually imitated anyone here, he has lifted material from another publication.

Can you imagine the fuss and bother he would be in if he had done the same to Sammy Miller?

His feet would not have touched the ground on the way to court.

Regards,

Joe Henderson.

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