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I am printing out parts manuals for '59 to '77 150's from the McCurtain CD's. These are well scanned pages and are printed front and back on a laser printer. Pages are new, clear & crisp. There is approximately 500 pages in a manual (one manual covers 59-69 and the other covers 70-77). I am offering to do this for $40 including a new binder and 2-3 day priority shipping. That gives me a little over 5 cents for each page printed. I can ship the pages loose in an envelope via book rate for $35. Please email me at cougkyle@ywave.com if you are interested in helping fund my 150 fix, and you can get a manual for 1/5 the price. Kyle

Kyle,

Maybe I'm just being old fashioned, but what you're offering seems unethical to me.

I assume those CDs are copyrighted.

I think it's OK. Kyle's not really copying the CD in my view.

McCurtain provides a valuable service by scanning those pages and turning the manual's into a CD digital format. Kyle purchased a CD and recreated the original hard copy manual. Since the original manual isn't copyrighted to begin with, I don't see a problem with it.

I own three of the McCurtain CDs and think they're great. Maybe some of us will want the hard copy that Kyle is offering. Maybe to leave it at the hangar where there's no PC?
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Well since this is turning into a thread I'll offer my thoughts here.

Yes, the manual is in the public domain, and yes you may copy it. Notice I said "it", referring to the printed manual. By printing the manual from the CD you are not copying the manual, you are instead using the work of McCurtain to produce a new manual. There's nothing wrong with printing a page or manual if you wish and using it yourself, but when you produce and sell a product that you could not have done so without the work of McCurtain then you are in very gray water and in my opinion you're probably violating the copyright issues. I.e. the manual in PDF format is copyrighted by them ( The means, not the manual ) and so you used copyrighted materials to produce your new product. So, I believe it's a copyright infringement to sell a manual based on this CD. I bet if you call them up they'll tell you the same thing. Keep in mind that a person can lose a copyright/patent by not going after people that infringe on it as well. So I suspect legal issues are possible by this method of producing the manual if they become aware of it, and I suspect as the legal system goes that anybody who helped in this endeavor can also be in hot water.

In any event, the poster communicated to me that he would withdraw the offer, I had hoped he would see fit to delete the post and this whole topic would never come up to cause problems. You just have to click the edit button and at the botton the delete button.

I own 3 as well, the IPC, SM, and o-200 overhaul manual. I find them invaluable and would encourage the members to buy the CD. They cost $20 and are well worth it, by the way, the o-200 CD contains the IPC and manual so it's a double bargain. The scanning isn't as good as the other 2, but it's good none the less.

I print out the page or 3 that interests me or my A&P and bring it along, then toss it when done. The problem is that some mechanics like to make notations in the manual and you can't do it this way, although you could scan the notes in and then recreate a CD with a page called notes...

I do not have the McCurtain CD's for the 150. However, I did buy the CD with the Service Information on it. The one I bought only had 1946 up to 1961, and I have everything since then up to 1978, in print originals. I think they now offer the Service Information Summaries from 1946 to 1976 on one CD for $40. Mine cost $30 and only has '46 to '61 (thats all they offered at the time). I plan on making a hard copy of this entire CD on my laser printer and binding it, as all my other Service Information Summaries are in print. It is more useful for me to have it in print. This is of course, for my own use at my own home.

This Service Information Summaries CD also would be a wise investment for the 150 owner, especially if your mechanic is a parttimer, works only on a couple of aircraft and doesn't have a shop or manuals.

http://www.mccurtaintg.com/cessna9.htm

I do think, however, McCurtain has "added value" to the Service manual CD and possibly the IPC by including selected Service publications and AD's. Correct me if I am wrong but I think I read where they did this.

Their software license says you cannot copy the software but one backup for your own protection, but it really doesn't address reproducing the contents of the CD on paper.

However, if someone approached Kyle and PROVED to him they owned that CD (by providing a copy of the invoice) and said, "I don't have a laser printer and want a print copy to take to the airport" I see nothing wrong with him printing them a copy of it (provided they own an original of the CD) and charging them for the print and postage costs. It wouldn't be much different than taking it to Kinkos and having them print it.

Simply selling the IPC's printed from the CD, without the buyer owning the original McCurtain CD is not right and I agree with Matthew and Steve, a copyright violation since McCurtain has added value to the product in several ways and do claim copyright to it.

Steve and I both decided it would be best to ask Royson to delete this thread, but I am now wondering if we just need to have Kyle retract or modify his printing offer. The discussion is good, enlightening and informative, and may help other McCurtain product owners in the future.

Charles