[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I'm not sure of that. It seems like a frightening privacy invasion, of the kind that courts like to disallow in order to encourage people not to be paranoid.

The courts have nothing to do with it if there's no law against it.

(OTOH, given what I've seen of privacy in recent cases, maybe it does work like that. In which case, I'm probably not paranoid enough. Sigh. I don't think I'm committing any accidental crimes, but I certainly don't like the idea that the plumber has the right to grab the books I've borrowed from my shelves if he knows who they should be returned to.)

Yeah, you have to chose your hypothetical plumbers with care. Next thing you know, they are raiding your fridge.

I suspect you are sufficiently paranoid, just about the wrong things. (That should give you something to worry about!)

I have possession of a copy of a book that was pulled from publication because of copyright infringement. Who owns it? Me? The author who plagiarized to create it? The author he plagiarized from--but didn't copy directly from; much of the book was written by the new author?

I'm not asking who I might be required to turn it over to with a court ruling; I'm asking who has the right to grab it from my hands if they happen to see me with it on the street.

The publisher, if there's a legitimate version. Otherwise, the original author. Or the plumber, if you don't watch out...