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As I understand it if a book is PD then anyone can repackage it and sell it. If someone translates a book from say French to English and the original book was PD that doesn't mean that the English translation is. I'm working on a copy of Somnium from the German epub here which is I understand PD as Tycho Brahe has been dead for centuries, but my English copy wouldn't necessarily be as it's a new translation of the text. Also like some have said books are sometimes offered free at sites like Smashwords for example, but just because they are free doesn't mean I can acquire a copy and resell it. It's still in copyright to the original author. And what is PD in one country may not yet be in another which adds to the headaches.
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