Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
What I understand happened with "Gone With the Wind" is that, even though it's in the public domain in Canada, its US rights-holder (and it's still a major revenue earner, seemingly) basically "bullied" a number of sites into removing it on the (highly dubious) grounds that by not specifically blocking people from the US from downloading it, they were guilty of contributing to the act of copyright infringement. Basically a case of "we've got deeper pockets than you" in the lawyer-department. Pure "scare tactics", but who can afford to risk a lot of money proving it?
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Intimidation by threat of suit is an old tactic, and not just in ebooks. Going to court takes time and money, and a lot of folks either don't have it or have better things to do with it. Easier to cave in.
And even if you have the money and inclination to fight it out, it's dangerous. This sounds like a court case could involve setting a precedent that might
require sites not in the US to block US downloads of material like this. Best not go there...
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Dennis