Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
I think that may vary per country, HarryT. In the US there was recently a decision that books may be transformed to formats accessible to handicapped readers if the reader owns a copy, without explicit permission from the copyright holder. Some organizations are using this to share scanned/ocr'd copies of books between readers who are able to demonstrate a visual impairment.
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It's the same in the UK, too, in the situation you describe, but that's a completely different situation from somebody publically posting a scanned or typed copy on the internet where it can be downloaded by anybody. That's a flagrant breach of copyright - and a criminal act - in any western country.
You're right - definitions of things like "fair use" vary from country to country. In the UK it's clearly defined (one chapter of a book, or one article from a magazine) - I understand the meaning is rather less clear-cut in the US, and that it might be argued that scanning a book one has bought for personal use is "fair use". There is clearly, however, a fundamental difference between scanning a book for one's own personal use, and posting that scan on the internet where it can be downloaded by anyone.