The AP Says OCLC has filed suit against a library-themed luxury hotel in Manhattan for trademark infringement.
The Library Hotel, which overlooks the New York Public Library, is divided according to the classification system, with each floor dedicated to one of Dewey’s 10 categories.
Room 700.003 includes books on the performing arts, for example, while room 800.001 has a collection of erotic literature.
In the lawsuit filed last week, lawyers for the Online Computer Library Center said the organization acquired the rights to the system in 1988 when it bought Forest Press, which published Dewey Decimal updates. The center charges libraries that use the system at least $500 per year.
A bit more Here.
See the MeFi thread
MeFi Thread
contact OCLC…
here: https://www3.oclc.org/app/contac/
but I’d rather see this discussed by librarians…
The metafilter comments are interesting but…
Because apparently not everyone knew about this hotel, but I’ve heard of it for a while now and I’ve never been to NYC…
Also, from my teensy bit of classification knowledge, isn’t the Library Hotel, botching the system just a bit? Look here, http://www.libraryhotel.com/concept.htm
I realize that are doing so for a specific reason and are most likely being fairly consistent, but it is still bugging me. Unfortunately I don’t have a DDC manual around and don’t feel knowledgable enough to claim, most definitely, that they are botching it. So I ask you, are my instincts right?
Re:but I’d rather see this discussed by librarians
Are they botching the DDC? In a word, Yes.
It appears they just took the general DDC number and added a room number. For example, mathematics are in the 510s. They are being mostly consistent in that the generalities are correct but on the whole they’ve got it wrong.
Still, it looks like a nice hotel, a bit pricey but nice.
open standards?
I wasn’t aware that the dewey classification scheme was owned. Are there any un-owned (ie: public) schemes for library use?
— Ender, Duke_of_URL
s
Re:open standards?
Yes, the Library of Congress Classification is not copyrighted — within the U.S. anyway (see http://classweb.loc.gov/legal.html). However, you won’t be able to get the whole system for free.
Your choices are:
Re:but I’d rather see this discussed by librarians
Yes you are correct, the numbering system *is* off, on most of the rooms. Perhaps this is the reason OCLC is suing?
Of couse what scares me, is that just looking at the numbers I knew they were wrong, w/o even looking at a manual.
Aw, nuts!
Next they’re gonna sue me over the FirstSearch drinking game.
Re:but I’d rather see this discussed by librarians
LOL… that is scary. I’m a cataloger so that sort of revelation doesn’t frighten me anymore.
It appears that OCLC is suing because of trademark infringement. According to the NY Times, OCLC contacted the hotel a couple of times to rectify this and they were ignored. So, they have had to go the lawsuit route to get things squared away. I wonder if/when this goes to court whether OCLC will actually seek the monetary damages they are asking for.