Mercruiser Bravo 3 Service Manual #28

Robs_232

I wanted to post a service manual for Bravo 3 drives as I was looking for torque specs on prop nuts in the RBO Archives. I have noticed many posts lately with questions regarding information that is addressed in this manual. Wondering if you want to add this to the Archives for all to use.

LaRea

Is it legal to post it here, i.e. not a copyright violation?

Robs_232

I see other Mercruiser manuals in the archives so figured this was ok.

randy56

Thanks I'm glad you posted it, even if you get arrested, LOL . will refer back to it when needed. Yes there are other manuals on here. 

LaRea

Look, I know you're posting this to be helpful, and you're a solid contributor to this forum.  

But when you signed up for your account here, you agreed to the following statement:  "You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you."  The title page says (C) 2000 Mercury Marine.  

Robs_232

Sorry, you can delete this post if that is what is needed to obey the policy. Didn't realize it was an issue.

Thanks LaRea,

Rob

randy56

I cannot imagine merc. would care at all, if we shared mannuals on this forum, we are users of there products, we own their products, copyright laws are to protect from compition. we are not the compition. 

raybo3

The forum is owned by a boat company. I agree with LaRea and should be careful. 

LaRea

Even if Merc was giving this manual away for free (which they aren't), it wouldn't matter.  The forum's policy is simple: don't post copyrighted material unless you own the copyright.

MarkB

... or have permission from the owner.

Handymans342

Is it ok to post a link to the manual?

LaRea

The forum policy just says "You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you."  Nothing about permission. 

Posting a link would not violate forum policy.  But is it ethical?  Is it right to post something that says "hey guys, here's how to steal from Mercury Marine"? 

In a previous life, I used to watch people on the internet steal and give away songs that my band had performed and was trying to sell.  That gave me a new perspective on theft of intellectual property.  

And now I have officially beaten this topic to death.  

craigswardmtb

The manual can be found on Chapparel and Hulltruth forums.  Right wrong or indifferent its out there.  I am not saying we should violate a forum policy just that its an easy thing to obtain on the internet.  I'm all about protecting IP, however the amount Merc charges me for all the OEM parts I buy from them despite their many defective systems they have designed over the years and only address through TSB's on the owners dime, I will poach their service manual and not feel bad about it.  It borderline forces the consumer to be a mechanic and fix their products.  The ethical thing would be for them to give us the manual and not even make us search.  I did buy one for my Merc 15hp outboard though...

MarkB

LaRea, any copyright will say you do not have the right to copy/post/etc unless with the written consent of the owner of the copyright. If we want to play on words, if you get permission to post a copy (a big if), then you in fact have a license to post. You now own that license, and it is perfectly legal to post a copy.

So if the forum rules can be interpret ownership to mean you are the owner or own a license to copy ... then we have no issues.

If the forum rules do not allow us to provide copies, when we have the right (license) to, then the forum rules need to be updated (they are old and obsolete).  We need to make sure we do not get stuck with draconian rules, or this site will become obsolete, as consumers have the choice and will leave ... ask RIM (Blackberry), they learned the hard way.

randy56

LaRea, thanks for bringing it up, I'm sure Rob had no intention of wrong doing, just trying to help. As you or anyone else would. Now we all know.
MarB what happened to Blackberry? You mentioned it? 

LaRea

Yep, I'm not knocking Rob.  Like I said, he's a solid forum member doing what we all do here -- helping fellow boaters.   

A friend once gave me a hard drive with about 2000 bootleg songs from every artist you could imagine.  At first, it was great.  After a while, it started to really bother me that I basically had $2000 worth of stolen property.  I ended up deleted them.  So, yeah I guess I'm more sensitive to this topic than most people.

And now I have really, truly beaten this topic to death.

MarkB

Randy, RIM didn't listen to their customers who wanted a better app library, a phone with a decent camera, something with a bigger screen.  They thought they had the best product out there, and along came apple and samsung who took over their market share.  The company was worth billions, and they didn't listen to their customers, so people slowly switched from blackberry to apple and android.  Then one day they realized they lost like 30% market share, and when the market got hold of that news, they dumped stock.  The company almost folded. I believe they were bought out for a few hundred million, but a fraction of what they used to be worth!

Moral of the story, LISTEN to customers, and stay relevant.  If you're not relevant, the world owes you nothing, and will move on, leaving you in the dust... The world has no sympathy for stubborn old ideas.

randy56

MarkB, good/to bad story, RIM must have thought they were the king of the hill, and to big to fail.
 Moral of the story, LISTEN to customers, and stay relevant.  If you're not relevant, the world owes you nothing, and will move on, leaving you in the dust... The world has no sympathy for stubborn old ideas.