|
i do think that's a bit cynical, harry. depending on the age and country of residence of the uploader (to name only 2 of the multiple factors in play) they could easily not have realised that the books were not in the PD. they might in fact even live in a country which has no copyright laws at all (there are some : check the list). even if they don't, they may not realise that this specific work is not available as a legal ebook. it's old enough that it's quite plausible it could be in the PD by now, as jellby mentioned.
as for european copyright laws being straightforward, well, i really think that with current technology such geographical limitations become almost meaningless (on mobileread alone we've got members representing god knows how many different countries), particularly since even within the EU we have the strange exception of France and its clauses for the two world wars, and maybe other exceptions for other EU countries (i haven't checked). the very fact that you have pages and pages of explanation and exceptions and specific rules on wikipedia means that overall the laws are too complex.
|