Repair Manual Sharing or Ideas

[Rford]

I just ordered a service manual for my MF 231. It will cost me $70 with shipping. I've seen them go as high as $100. That's too much.

I think I ought to make this available to whoever needs it for a small charge to cover copying and mailing. Or else somehow load it and make it available as a PDF file, which I'm happy to do as well. Over on one of the chainsaw forums they have a "manuals wanted" forum where this sharing goes on freely. Anybody think that would be a good idea for tractor manuals?

The manuals I see available for sale are usually just copies anyway. Someone has just taken a factory manual and copied it and is selling it for a good price. It's not like taking a Clymers copywrited manual and making it freely available. Or maybe it is, but its the ACGO company that would be on the short end, because they are the ones being infringed upon and apparently they don't care because these photocopied manuals are all over the internet (JENSALES) and Ebay.

 

[BobRip]

Does it have a copyright on it?

 

[kennyd]

This thread should be closed:thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

I just ordered a service manual for my MF 231. It will cost me $70 with shipping. I've seen them go as high as $100. That's too much.

I think I ought to make this available to whoever needs it for a small charge to cover copying and mailing. Or else somehow load it and make it available as a PDF file, which I'm happy to do as well. Over on one of the chainsaw forums they have a "manuals wanted" forum where this sharing goes on freely. Anybody think that would be a good idea for tractor manuals?

The manuals I see available for sale are usually just copies anyway. Someone has just taken a factory manual and copied it and is selling it for a good price. It's not like taking a Clymers copywrited manual and making it freely available. Or maybe it is, but its the ACGO company that would be on the short end, because they are the ones being infringed upon and apparently they don't care because these photocopied manuals are all over the internet (JENSALES) and Ebay.

If its copyrighted and you do that, you are technically a criminal because you are stealing intellectual content. That's what copyright laws are for.

Morally you should be having issues doing that as well.

Just because other folks are doing it too doesn't make it right. :thumbsup:

 

[MasseyWV]

Some manuals published prior to 1989 *may* be public domain if they weren't properly copyrighted. However, according to tractordata.com the Massey 231 was produced from 1989 to 1999, which means that it's virtually certain that the manuals for it ARE copyrighted and that sharing free copies of them would be illegal without written permission from the copyright holder.

TractorData.com Massey Ferguson 231 tractor information

Copyright Law - Public Domain - TBN

 

[Jerry/MT]

I just ordered a service manual for my MF 231. It will cost me $70 with shipping. I've seen them go as high as $100. That's too much.

I think I ought to make this available to whoever needs it for a small charge to cover copying and mailing. Or else somehow load it and make it available as a PDF file, which I'm happy to do as well. Over on one of the chainsaw forums they have a "manuals wanted" forum where this sharing goes on freely. Anybody think that would be a good idea for tractor manuals?

The manuals I see available for sale are usually just copies anyway. Someone has just taken a factory manual and copied it and is selling it for a good price. It's not like taking a Clymers copywrited manual and making it freely available. Or maybe it is, but its the ACGO company that would be on the short end, because they are the ones being infringed upon and apparently they don't care because these photocopied manuals are all over the internet (JENSALES) and Ebay.

Jensales may have a license to copy these manuals. Hence their high prices.

Nonetheless if it's copywrighted material, it can't be copied legally without a license from the holder of the copyright.

 

[MasseyWV]

Jensales may have a license to copy these manuals. Hence their high prices.

It's possible, but I doubt it, especially with regard to older manuals that were published prior to 1989, when automatic copyright laws went into effect. It's probably why there are so many older "reproduction" manuals offered for sale by a plethora of different sources on the internet. It seems that everyone with a scanner and a printer or CD/DVD burner is getting into the "reproduction" manuals game.

There don't seem to be nearly as many sources of newer manuals on the internet, probably because they are automatically copyrighted, and people are either afraid of being sued, or have been sued, effectively shutting them down before they become widely distributed.

If reprints of manuals were authorized, it's very likely that there would be a requirement to publish mention of that authorization along with copyright information within the manuals. For instance, manuals I recently purchased from Jenales, then subsequently returned to them, had no mention of any copyright or reproduction authorization, at least there was none that I could find. With regard to the high prices of manuals offered for sale by Jensales, I believe they are intended to produce higher profits, nothing more.

 

[Rford]

Don't close the thread for crying out loud. I'm not trying to do anything illegal. I know a little about copyright laws, but not enough. Did you know you can't copyright a recipe?

This is probably something the AGCO folks might be able answer easily if we had a contact person. AGCO has their parts manuals on-line for all to see and use, but others sell those as copies for $30-40.

I had another thought...because so many companies go out of business and are taken over by others (Ford-Holland) it is possible that copyrights end up being lost in the transfers. I'm pretty sure nobody is going to be concerned about Solyndra manuals now that the company is belly-up.

 

[Rford]

Whoops...never mind. I went to the AGCO site and they do care....they have their manuals for the 231 for sale ($103 plus shipping) and have the warnings not to be stealing their stuff splattered all over the place....so I guess maybe I'd better not be sharing my stuff with you guys after all....

 

[MasseyWV]

Whoops...never mind. I went to the AGCO site and they do care....they have their manuals for the 231 for sale ($103 plus shipping) and have the warnings not to be stealing their stuff splattered all over the place....so I guess maybe I'd better not be sharing my stuff with you guys after all....

You must have been looking at the "assembly" which includes a rather expensive 3 ring binder. The printed "packet" (1449233M2) is much cheaper. Here is a direct link.

SERVICE MANUAL MF 231/261 TRACTOR - $45.17 - AGCO Technical Publications