Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book General > Writers' Corner

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 07-14-2009, 02:48 AM   #16
HarryT
eBook Enthusiast
HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
HarryT's Avatar
 
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
Anything which they have added to the original text will be covered by their copyright. This is perfectly legal.
HarryT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-14-2009, 04:15 AM   #17
Elfwreck
Grand Sorcerer
Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Elfwreck's Avatar
 
Posts: 5,185
Karma: 25133758
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)
What gets me is the line, "No part of this ebook may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the copyright owner." Which implies rather strongly that most/all of the ebook *has* a copyright owner, rather than that the bulk of the text is in the public domain, and only the fragments they added are copyrighted.
Elfwreck is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 07-14-2009, 04:23 AM   #18
HarryT
eBook Enthusiast
HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
HarryT's Avatar
 
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
You're absolutely right - it is extremely misleading. Unfortunately, it's probably not actually illegal.
HarryT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-14-2009, 02:30 PM   #19
Elfwreck
Grand Sorcerer
Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Elfwreck ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Elfwreck's Avatar
 
Posts: 5,185
Karma: 25133758
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)
It hasn't been challenged because it's hard to prove damages by someone claiming ownership of public domain works. Who's harmed by placing fences around what's supposed to be a commons?

I'm hoping that sometime soon, some bright lawyer or nonprofit copyfight org figures out how to describe the damage done by attempting to restrict use of public domain works. (Class action lawsuit on behalf of "the US public?" With damages to be awarded to the LoC's copyright office, so they can afford to hire enough people to actually register all the new submissions, and potentially start digitizing the backlist of registrations so people can easily find out if works are available for anyone's use?)
Elfwreck is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-14-2009, 02:54 PM   #20
tompe
Grand Sorcerer
tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 7,452
Karma: 7185064
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Linköpng, Sweden
Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT View Post
Anything which they have added to the original text will be covered by their copyright. This is perfectly legal.
I doubt that spelling corrections is covered by copyright.

And in this case it seemed that the work had made it truer to the original copyrighted work so then anybody could take this work and do whatever they want with it.
tompe is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 07-16-2009, 07:28 PM   #21
etienne66
Groupie
etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.etienne66 knows what is on the back of the AURYN.
 
Posts: 185
Karma: 9832
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Texas, US
Device: Kindle 2, PRS-600 Black, PRS-650 Red, Adam w/ Pixel Qi(pre-ordered)
We'll I've been reading all the commentary here and I still plan on releasing the ebook on Amazon and FictionWise, but I think I will release a copy here on MobileRead in .mobi and .epub formats. It doesn't sound like I have any rights whatsoever for the work I have done on this project.

I would have thought I would have some rights to the HTML formatting code I wrote, but not the text itself. I find this somewhat odd, because I know if I were to reprint the original book, you could not just walk into a bookstore and take it without paying for it even though the text itself is in the public domain. If that were true why would anyone bother to reprint classic books such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".

But at the same time you could theoretically find dozens or even 1000's of printed editions of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". I have looked at the Gutenberg Projects rendition of this particular book and I would not be satisfied with this rendition in either print or ebook format as I don't feel that it matches the original printings formatting very well. And even in a bookstore you can glance through the book to see if it is an edition that you would like to read.

It sounds like to me you could buy any public domain ebook from Amazon and then publish it for sell without change as long as the images in the ebook are in the public domain as well.

For example; I know that Goodmountain books distributes Project Gutenberg ebooks on Amazon.com. They are required to pay Project Gutenberg for using their name. The only thing else I've seen in the preview copies of their books is a few words about copyright and a picture of their logo, which I guess is the only thing in the book they have a copyright on as I saw no other commentary. But I'm not impressed with them leaving the "--" instead of replacing them with an "—".

I guess my best recourse is to put a copyright page that states that the text itself is in the public domain, but I won't mention Archive.org, Project Gutenberg or MobileRead as I do not want to infringe upon their copyrighted names. But of course I will give myself credit (or blame) for proofreading and formatting this edition.

Thanks,
Etienne66
etienne66 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2009, 08:02 AM   #22
HarryT
eBook Enthusiast
HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
HarryT's Avatar
 
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by etienne66 View Post
I would have thought I would have some rights to the HTML formatting code I wrote, but not the text itself.
You do. As I've said previously, in the UK and most other countries (but perhaps not the US), you automatically hold a "typographical copyright" on the formatting of the book which lasts for 25 years. Although the text itself is in the public domain, people can't just make direct copies of your version of it. They can reformat it and THEN do what they wish with it, however.

Quote:
I find this somewhat odd, because I know if I were to reprint the original book, you could not just walk into a bookstore and take it without paying for it even though the text itself is in the public domain. If that were true why would anyone bother to reprint classic books such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".
In the case of a printed book, it's the physical object itself that you're buying. It's a very different situation.

Most publishers who are "serious" about classics - eg "Oxford World Classics" or "Penguin Classics" - add scholarly introductions, footnotes, etc, to them. That's why they are sold as full-priced paperbacks and why people buy them. Publishers who reprint just the public domain text generally sell their books very, very cheaply.

Quote:
It sounds like to me you could buy any public domain ebook from Amazon and then publish it for sell without change as long as the images in the ebook are in the public domain as well.
Yes, that's pretty much true, but note what I said above about typographical copyrights.
HarryT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2009, 08:22 AM   #23
tompe
Grand Sorcerer
tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.tompe ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 7,452
Karma: 7185064
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Linköpng, Sweden
Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT View Post
You do. As I've said previously, in the UK and most other countries (but perhaps not the US), you automatically hold a "typographical copyright" on the formatting of the book which lasts for 25 years. Although the text itself is in the public domain, people can't just make direct copies of your version of it. They can reformat it and THEN do what they wish with it, however.
I suppose that it has to be non-trivial HTML code in the sense that if you re-format it in the obvious way and end up with nearly the same HTML code it should be OK to distribute.

Quote:
publishers who are "serious" about classics - eg "Oxford World Classics" or "Penguin Classics" - add scholarly introductions, footnotes, etc, to them. That's why they are sold as full-priced paperbacks and why people buy them. Publishers who reprint just the public domain text generally sell their books very, very cheaply.
The paper editions with added material are usually still a bit cheaper than ordinary paper backs.
tompe is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
archive.org, copyright, microsoft

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Archive.org copyright question Hatgirl General Discussions 7 03-23-2010 07:58 PM
Archive.org adds Mobi format for most of 1.8m books Nate the great News 2 12-11-2009 03:01 PM
Internet Archive wants book copyright indemnity like Google anurag News 0 04-19-2009 11:40 PM
Government US Copyright Office: Report on Orphan Works. US Copyright Office. PDF Nate the great Other Books 0 01-03-2008 07:16 PM
The Internet Archive is saved from copyright law shutdown Bob Russell Lounge 13 02-19-2007 05:26 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:13 AM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.