Numly started out as ESBN.ORG in December 2005 and was forced to change its name by RR Bowker (the ISBN.ORG folks) shortly thereafter. Bowker claimed possible trademark infringements of the ISBN.ORG moniker but could not cite any actual instances. Rather than fight the 800 pound gorilla, we changed our name to Numly.
I believe that everything happens for a reason. Numly is a better web 2.0-sounding name and I believe that it differentiates us from Bowker. Numly is more than an enumerator. We assign numbers for each copy of a digital work rather than a number per title. We also timestamp copyright submissions and include digital signatures in our database of each digital work to protect authors/artists against orphan works. This allows us to trace a digital work back to the appropriate copyright holder.
We have also recently launched Docly, a web 2.0 self-publishing site for authors. Submissions generated through Docly automatically bare Numly Numbers with copyright registration as well as social bookmarks and ratings. Authors can also decide whether to share or charge for the viewing of their works. Check out the cool new buddy icons and RSS added to Docly. We'll probably see some of the newer functions on Docly transfer back over to Numly especially since both sites share the same login credentials.
Numly also launched Bookfob several months ago. BookFob allows you to store electronic books (e-books) on a memory stick that can be attached to your key chain. This memory stick can be plugged into any Windows PC to access your book at any time and anywhere. There is no software to install because our user-friendly e-book reader also resides on the BookFob. Best of all, your content is protected from copy/paste, printing, and distribution.
I would like to thank everyone who has provided feedback and enhancement requests to our services. It's because of members like you that Numly, Docly, and Bookfob are what they are today.
Thank You!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
