Book publisher files mass BitTorrent lawsuit

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Taping a record isn't something you would do in public or advertise in front of the whole world, so it would have been pretty much impossible to prosecute.

I'm pretty sure that many teen films in the 90s had a guy give a mix tape to a girl.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Skip_intro

Probably just throwing petrol on the flames, but...

Here's the scenario; I have several dozen metres of books in my study, Hardback editions of authors I particularly like, Paperbacks of many, many, others. In some cases I have multiple versions of the same book, different covers, earlier editions, etc.

However, I have the opportunity to download the collected works of these two of my favourite authors to fill my new eReader, in non-DRM'd ePub format. These authors are Stephen King and Iain Banks, for example.

The Stephen King collection contains all of the Dark Tower series, which I don't like and have no physical copies of. It does have all of the books I own as well.

The Iain Banks collection has all of this SF and non-SF books, all of which I own, multiple times.

Now, it seems I have no legal right to download any of this, even though I would not be depriving anyone of revenue as I would not have bought the Dark Tower books and have paid for original copies of all of the others.

Would I be on stronger ground if I exclude the books I don't like/own from the download? Legally, of course, it makes no difference what-so ever as it seems that I am depriving someone, somewhere of profit. This is, in fact, not the case.

Mr. King's works are all available as legal eBooks; I would strongly urge you to buy them, if you want to have them in eBook form. The fact that you own a paper book does NOT entitle you to a "free" eBook, any more than the fact that you've bought a hardback version of a book entitles you to a free paperback.

I am doing exactly this at present: replacing my extensive mystery collection with (legal) eBooks, and selling the paper books on Amazon or eBay.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I'm pretty sure that many teen films in the 90s had a guy give a mix tape to a girl.

I'm pretty sure you can simulate a crime for entertainment purposes, it would only be illegal if you actually carried out that crime for real.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I'm pretty sure you can simulate a crime for entertainment purposes, it would only be illegal if you actually carried out that crime for real.

If they were capable to show that teenagers smoking was bad, they could have done the same thing for taping if they wanted to say that it was in any way a bad thing.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I'm pretty sure you can simulate a crime for entertainment purposes, it would only be illegal if you actually carried out that crime for real.

Giving someone a mix tape is not a "crime" - it's a case of civil copyright infringement, which the copyright holder would need to take action against, should they wish to do so - which is vanishingly unlikely.

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I'm pretty sure you can simulate a crime for entertainment purposes, it would only be illegal if you actually carried out that crime for real.

Is making a mix tape really a crime? It rather leans towards fair use if you'd ask me -- especially if used to impress a member of the fairer gender

[howyoudoin]

Does this mean that the chicks in the movies were impressed by the dude making the mix tape not because that showed he was a romantic, but because he was being a bad boy?

I guess nice guys do finish last

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

Does this mean that the chicks in the movies were impressed by the dude making the mix tape not because that showed he was a romantic, but because he was being a bad boy?

I guess nice guys do finish last

Yep, it's always the bad bananas that get the girls!

[Zetmolm]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Mr. King's works are all available as legal eBooks; I would strongly urge you to buy them, if you want to have them in eBook form.

Or instead, spend the money on a trip to the Netherlands, where it is still legal to download books from any source. (But don't wait too long, legislation is going to change.)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

Or instead, spend the money on a trip to the Netherlands, where it is still legal to download books from any source. (But don't wait too long, legislation is going to change.)

It's not a matter of what's legal - it's a matter of what's right.

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's not a matter of what's legal - it's a matter of what's right.

Although I don't disagree with that; it seems companies don't have a problem with issues that are ethically dubious but are legally correct whereas consumers seem to feel doubly restricted to keep within both legal and ethical boundaries.

[Kevin8or]

Originally Posted by Soldim

Although I don't disagree with that; it seems companies don't have a problem with issues that are ethically dubious but are legally correct whereas consumers seem to feel doubly restricted to keep within both legal and ethical boundaries.

*snap*

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Soldim

Although I don't disagree with that; it seems companies don't have a problem with issues that are ethically dubious but are legally correct whereas consumers seem to feel doubly restricted to keep within both legal and ethical boundaries.

Well, personally I feel that it is both morally AND legally "the right thing to do", to buy commercial eBooks to replace your paper books, if that's what you want to do. If your books are in good condition, you can do this at minimal or no cost. Eg, I look after my paperbacks so that they are in "as new" condition, and have sold many of my Agatha Christie paperbacks on Amazon at a higher price than I've paid for the eBook with which to replace them.

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Well, personally I feel that it is both morally AND legally "the right thing to do", to buy commercial eBooks to replace your paper books, if that's what you want to do.

Oh, I fully agree. The only times I 'cheat' are when eBooks are available on Project Gutenberg, or here at MR that are not officially in the Life+70 public domain yet. The only exception there I would probably make when I'd want to buy a copy of Peter Pan -- though I doubt GOSH sees much of the Peter Pan revenues generated through Amazon US.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The fact that you own a paper book does NOT entitle you to a "free" eBook, any more than the fact that you've bought a hardback version of a book entitles you to a free paperback.

It does if you convert them yourself (depending on what country you're in).