Genesis of the SOUL-CATCHER clause*
Within the first year of starting his high-tech advertising agency, Rick Bennett invented the soul-catcher program license agreement for one of his first clients. Instead of grossly inconveniencing customers with troublesome software-protection schemes, Bennett reasoned that even agnostics would take seriously the threat of losing their souls. The results were quite astounding. The ad ran only once, in PC Magazine. Not only did The Wall Street Journal cover the unusual approach, but Bennett's client continued to receive thousands of unsolicited dollars for months after the ad ran.
Interestingly, Bennett also convinced his client to provide source code for their software program. He reasoned that the client didn't want to support the software, and that users would not mind solving their own problems. Interestingly, this was a precursor to today's open-source movement wherein major proprietary products are being displaced by the LINUX operating system, Apachee Web servers and Netscape browsers. Source code for all these products is freely available on the Internet.
Bennett got the original idea for the soul catcher in 1966, during his freshman year at Whitman College. One of the students in his dorm professed to be an athiest, whereupon Bennett said, "Prove it; sell me your soul for $5." The athiest agreed, a handshake sealing the deal. Evidently, the transaction gnawed upon the athiest, however. So much so, in fact, that he begged Bennett to sell it back to him at the end of the school year. Which he did. For $100.
Today, Napster, eBooks and Resurrection of THE SOUL CATCHER
The recording industry is doomed to fail in its battle with Napster, because the Internet is uncontrollable. If the courts rule against Napster, or even if there is legislation against the practice of sharing files, all Napster has to do is move offshore. And competing non-server-based technologies are simply sue-proof. Like it or not, the protection of intellectual property is basically an honor system. In deciding to make Destroying Angel available as a downloadable PDF file, the author recognized the reality of honor in our technologically advanced society. If his past experience with The Soul-catcher Clause is any predictor, there shouldn't be a whole lot of cheating going on. Any evidence to the contrary, and there will be . . . one HELL of an EBAY auction. Motion picture and record companies, along with eBook publishers, might consider this more enlightened approach to copyright protection. It would certainly be a natural for Stephen King! As for the entertainment industry, though, they may not be at all interested. For as Jay Leno might quip in his opening monologue, "Everybody in this town has already sold his soul." Following is the complete text of the soul-catcher agreement.
*THE SOUL-CATCHER INTELLECTUAL-PROPERTY LICENSE AGREEMENT: By downloading and opening your PDF copy of Destroying Angel, you agree to the following: Your electronic rights are identical to those granted the owner the copyrighted, hardcover book, with the exception that you have the right to make backup copies until such time as you print one and only one hardcopy. A high-resolution color PDF of the cover is also included, which means your printing your own hardcover authorized copy of Destroying Angel, including color cover, will be about one-third the price of the hard-cover book. And if you print the even-numbered pages first, turn them over and then print the odd-numbered pages, you'll have saved seventy-five percent of the hardcover price. Upon printing one hardcopy, you agree to either delete your PDF copy, or send the author an additional $5 license fee within thirty days, per the PAYMENT terms specified herein. You may loan your PDF file to someone else, so long as there is no possibility you could be reading it while it is in their possession. For example, one Napster user may share it with another Napster user, provided the original Napster user deletes his or her copy immediately upon transfer and provided that the new "owner" explicitly agrees to abide by these terms of use. The PDF file may not be modified in any way, and you agree to alert anyone to whom you give your copy of Destroying Angel, through sale or as a gift, that by reading the file they have agreed to the terms of this "soul-catcher" license.
PAYMENT for your download or any subsequent usage of Destroying Angel in any form will be made online via PayPal and the link provided in the at Where to Buy section. Enter your Visa or Mastercard number and be done with it. If you elect to set up your own PayPal account, so people can send you money, you may receive a $5 limited-time sign-up bonus from PayPal, thereby making your purchase of Destroying Angel free to you. And since the author will also receive an additional $5 bonus from PayPal for referring a new customer, new PayPal customers may, upon achieving PayPal-verified status and receiving their $5 signing bonus, Email one copy of the Destroying Angel PDF file as a gift to anyone.
PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION: Our attorneys will do their best to see that life on earth, as you know it, is completely ruined. In addition, you agree that thirty (30) days after you violate any condition of this agreement without making appropriate payment, ownership of your eternal soul passes to the author, who has the right to negotiate the sale of said soul to the first smoking, blood-drenched apparition with fangs (SBDAWF)--or any other entity--that meets his price. Such SBDAWF or purchasing entity may collect your soul at any time of his/her/its choosing. SOUL AUCTIONS may take place periodically via EBAY. Since only supernatural forces are aware of exactly who has violated this agreement (you may hide from our attorneys, but you won't evade the Hounds of Hell), souls will be sold in date-delimited blocks (the sale of souls will not preclude the author and publisher from pursuing all other legal remedies under copyright law). And if a SOUL AUCTION is not held by 30 October 2001, one day before Halloween, THE REAL DESTROYING ANGEL is hereby authorized to visit violators thereafter. No matter how badly Dr. Laura Schlessinger gets on a thief's nerves, such a visitation will be Stephen King-level more discomforting.