With all due respect, I'm not sure I agree that all trademark suits are not
frivolous. They may be very real and very costly, but I believe they can
still be petty and frivolous. And yes, the hotel owner should have had the
savvy to work with OCLC to reach an agreement, if only to avoid litigation.
All that said, I'm still embarrassed for OCLC, and I _am_ a librarian. We
have Ashcroft making us out to be hysterical idiots in the press, and IMHO,
OCLC proving him right. I only wish I could afford to stay at the Library
Hotel on my next visit to NYC - on the 7th floor no doubt. I wonder if they
give librarians special rates? Probably not after this lawsuit, huh?
Jacqueline Tygart, Art and Architecture Librarian (whose views are her own
and not those of Drury University)
Drury University, F. W. Olin Library
Springfield, MO 65802
-----Original Message-----
From: Alita Vogel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 9:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARLIS-L] Fwd: NYTimes.com Article: Where Did Dewey File
Those Law Books?
WOW, Theresa Conley, as someone who "runs" a library (notice the article
didn't say she was a librarian) should know that a trademark lawsuit is not
frivolous. I can't believe she let herself be quoted as saying that. Yeah,
I think the Library Hotel is a great idea too, but the hotel owner should
have worked with OCLC instead of telling them to shove off.
-----Original Message-----
From: Leigh Gates [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 10:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ARLIS-L] Fwd: NYTimes.com Article: Where Did Dewey File Those
Law Books?
This is hilarious!
>Where Did Dewey File Those Law Books?
>
>September 23, 2003
> By MICHAEL LUO
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Who knew that someone owned the Dewey Decimal System?
>
>Apparently not the owners of the Library Hotel, nestled in
>the shadow of the New York Public Library. Now the boutique
>hotel, which numbers its guest rooms and stocks them with
>books according to Melvil Dewey's century-old library
>classification system, is being sued for using it.
>
>"The Dewey Decimal System is a product, a trademark, a
>brand name," said Joseph R. Dreitler, a lawyer for the
>Online Computer Library Center, a nonprofit library
>cooperative that filed the suit last week in Federal
>District Court in Ohio. "The idea here isn't to put the
>Library Hotel out of business. The idea is to protect Dewey
>and the Dewey Decimal System trademark."
>
>The hotel opened three years ago at Madison Avenue and 41st
>Street. From its imitation card catalog in the lobby to its
>stately second-floor reading room, it is designed as a
>siren for book lovers. Each floor is devoted to one of the
>10 main categories of knowledge in the Dewey system: Social
>Sciences, Languages, Math and Science, Technology, the
>Arts, Literature, History and Geography, General Knowledge,
>Philosophy and Religion.
>
>Hotel guests can request a specific floor or themed room,
>furnished with the corresponding books. History buffs might
>consider the ninth floor, with Biography (900.006) or Asian
>History (900.004). A technology aficionado might give
>Computers (600.005) a try.
>
>The most popular rooms, by far? Erotic Literature (800.001)
>and Love (1100.006). Room and suite prices on the hotel's
>Web site range from $295 to $770 per night.
>
>Hotel officials said yesterday that the owner, Henry
>Kallan, could not be reached in Prague, where he is opening
>a new music-themed hotel, the Aria. But the hotel's general
>manager, Craig Spitzer, issued a written statement saying
>that the Dewey Decimal theme was Mr. Kallan's "original
>idea," based on its proximity to the public library.
>
>"We are not a library lending books, but rather we have
>created a unique hotel experience for book lovers to
>enjoy," Mr. Spitzer said. "We do not believe that our
>guests or other consumers are confused into thinking the
>Library Hotel's hospitality services and the O.C.L.C.'s
>information services come from the same source."
>
>The Online Computer Library Center is seeking damages of
>three times the profits the hotel has made since it opened.
>
>
>Dewey, a librarian, invented the Dewey Decimal
>Classification in 1874 and devoted his life to spreading
>it. Over time, it became the most widely employed
>cataloging system in the world, used today in 95 percent of
>public libraries in the United States.
>
>Before its emergence, libraries would dedicate space on
>their shelves for books according to their own systems.
>Adding new volumes, categories and subcategories was often
>unwieldy, and because no two libraries used the same
>system, the method of finding books differed from one
>library to the next.
>
>Dewey copyrighted his system early on and set up a company,
>Forest Press, to sell it, although he often donated his
>system to needy libraries.
>
>He never intended to get rich with his system, said Dr.
>Wayne Wiegand, a professor of library and information
>studies at Florida State University and the author of a
>Dewey biography. Dewey's goal, instead, was to educate the
>masses.
>
>Dr. Wiegand said many smaller libraries, including prison
>libraries, use the system today without paying.
>
>In 1988, the Online Computer Library Center, a group
>created to help libraries share resources and costs, bought
>Forest Press and the Dewey Decimal System trademark.
>Periodically, the group, based in Dublin, Ohio, issues
>updates to the system and sells them to libraries at $375
>for a full printed update. More than 200,000 libraries in
>135 countries are licensed to use the system.
>
>Officials at the library center said they discovered the
>hotel on the Internet soon after it opened. After writing
>two letters to Mr. Kallan, in 2000 and 2001, but getting no
>response, the group sent him a certified letter in October,
>said Mr. Dreitler, the organization's lawyer.
>
>He said Mr. Kallan finally responded with a phone call,
>refusing to give the group credit or stop using the Dewey
>system in his marketing. "He basically said, `Go away,' "
>Mr. Dreitler said.
>
>Theresa Conley runs a small public library in Lyme, Conn.,
>and stayed at the hotel last month, in Ancient Languages
>(400.006). After hearing about the lawsuit from another
>librarian, she dashed off an angry e-mail message to the
>library center, scolding the group.
>
>"It's a place that celebrates books and reading," she said
>in a telephone interview.
>
>"I think that's something that needs to be encouraged and
>commended, and not discouraged by this frivolous, silly
>lawsuit."
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/23/nyregion/23DEWE.html?ex=1065325432&ei=1&e
n=3e6b0baad05544b6
>
>
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--
***********************************
Leigh Gates, Slide Librarian
MacLean Visual Resources Center, Ryerson Library
The Art Institute of Chicago
37 S. Wabash, Chicago IL 60603
[log in to unmask]
tel: 312/899-1223 fax: 312/263-0141
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