Quote:
Originally Posted by Soldim
It would be interesting to see how such 'contracts' are considered if one buys a public domain book with a non-duplication clause and starts making copies. Then the validity of the 'contract' could be tested -- but I don't know any cases (most likely because defendants would certainly win  ). |
I didn't really address this in my last response. Sorry.
I was actually in that situation a few months ago. I went to a university's special collection to see if they had any Collier's from 1903 that had stories from
The Return of Sherlock Holmes. (Collier's was a weekly magazine that published the stories in the U.S. at the same time, or earlier, than The Strand did in the U.K.)
Anyways, they had some with illustrations by Frederick Dorr Steel. I asked about copying them. Because the magazines are over a hundred years old, the special collections director offered to scan them for $50 a copy. However, there was a catch, I couldn't publish them. Part of the reason I wanted copies was to publish the illustrations of Mr. Steel. So I asked how much more it would be if I could publish them, and it was another $50 per copy. (That was after she mentioned a discount.)
Now, the stories and illustrations are out of copyright. But because they own the physical magazines and they can stipulate that they will only sell me scans if I don't publish them. Or ask for more money for the permission.
So I didn't go with them. I ended up getting the illustrations somewhere else.