Kathy,
I don't think that you are overreacting. There has to be a point where we
cross from acceptable use of others materials (acknowledge source, etc) to
stealing/theft.
I believe that our business is becoming increasingly willing to have
material used by others appropriately acknowledge and so failure to do
this becomes more obvious and disconcerting. It is made more difficult
when incorporated into a commercial product as you describe.
It is a question of ethics, honesty and moral values.
It seems to me that we have a number of choices, often that feel
unsatisfactory.
1. We can sue and usually we simply cannot afford it.
2. We can raise the issue and ask for acknowledgements to be added
3. We can stop dealing with these people.
My own position is to stop concerning myself with it as much as I used to
because I became aware that I did not have the time or energy to do much
about theft of ideas and materials. And I try to incorporate values and
ethics into most of my programmes.
Ian Saunders
Transition Partnerships
'Harnessing change for business advantage'
www.transitionp.co.uk
--tpians@cix.co.uk (Ian Saunders)
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