Intellectual Property Notice

I am a "word" person. I'm not a gifted writer, but I do like words...lots of them. This is a rather wordy website. I get compliments and some complaints about this. I offer no apologies. Tolerating my verbose use of the language is the price of admission here. However...

The Intellectual Property Notice printed at the bottom of every page on this website is there for a reason. It has taken many years to develop the content on this website. Unless otherwise noted or attributed to other sources, all of the material on this site belongs to me. I monitor most of the prominent vintage motorcycle message boards and I am well aware when people "borrow" from this site. It's quite easy to recognize words I have written. The worst offenders are those who package my ideas as their own. I have no hesitation in publicly embarrassing such people (or worse!). I have done so in the past when warranted.

In general, I believe the internet should be a place for the free exchange of information. I have a fairly significant Tech Tips section on this website and freely share this information in the hope that it will be beneficial to those who read it. Having said that, I still own this material.

In most cases, I am willing to share content for publication purposes when permission is sought. For those who follow the guidelines, I will freely grant permission to use material from this website elsewhere. Here is my policy.

Randakk's Content Reproduction Policy:

Randall Washington (AKA "Randakk") is sharing this information as a service to vintage motorcycle enthusiasts and would ask that you follow these guidelines below when using any of this information.

General conditions and limitations:

1. Prior, written permission before the fact is required for any hard copy publication. All rights are reserved for the words, images, graphics, formatting and artistic elements. Technically, this includes printing for personal use.

2. Reprint for monetary gain is strictly prohibited.

3. Any approved reproduction of Randakk's Tech Tips or other protected information must be properly credited to Randall Washington and my company - Randakk's Cycle Shakk, LLC .

4. An attribution comment similar to the following is required:

"This Technical Tip (or other relevant selection) is provided courtesy of Randall Washington, owner of Randakk's Cycle Shakk, LLC."

Website: www.randakks.com

Email: randakk@hotmail.com

5. For online purposes, a link to the relevant section of my website (with attribution comment per #4 above) is preferred.

6. No prior approval is required to post an online link to any material on this website, but an attribution comment per #4 is required.

Special conditions and limitations which apply to competitors:

1. Competitors (as defined by me) require prior, written permission before the fact for any use whatsoever including linking to any material (with or without attribution).

2. I have not created this intellectual property to benefit competitors. But, I will freely grant reasonable permission to any competitor with a non-conflicting business need who seeks advance permission to use my intellectual property - so long as they have demonstrated honesty and integrity in their prior dealings with me and others in the vintage bike "community" and agree to all of the conditions I place on such use. My view: anything that grows the old bike hobby by responsible parties helps everyone.

3. Competitors who have not measured up to #2 above will be denied.

I have a thick skin, but unfortunately I stumble across examples of people using my words as their words more frequently than you might imagine. I consider plagiarism to be a serious matter.

Sometimes, it's the innocent lack of quotation marks in a passage where I have been previously referenced. A "technical" crime, but not too serious. Other times, it's plain larceny. I was taught to respect other folk's property - that includes the words they write.

It's not very amusing when magazine writers write columns and I can tell they've been "grazing" my website for "inspiration." One would think they could at least pick their own words if that's what they are paid to do. Editors are not impressed with such behavior.

EBAY sellers routinely "harvest" verbiage from this website to spice up their listings. When I become aware of such situations, I report the misdeed to EBAY for appropriate action. Typically, they end the auction. In some cases, the sellers have been permanently banned from future participation on EBAY.

My lawyer (and friend) specializes in entertainment and intellectual property law. He lives in a ginormous house. I think that speaks for itself.

For more information on the use of material from this website, click here.