Book Scanning at 1DollarScan

[Gardenman]

I was checking out 1DollarScan and I saw this on front page of their website.

WE CANNOT SCAN ANY PUBLICATION BY McGraw Hill. They do not allow us to scan their publications.

How can McGraw Hill stop you from doing something with a book you own?

[Nate the great]

By making scary legal threats backed up by deep pockets.

[ngrant]

Try http://bookscan.us/
Just checked and no such warning message on their website (yet?)... I have used their service for many old paperbacks and been very pleased with their service and the quality of the PDFs. Sometimes a backlog may cause a 4 week wait for the PDF output, but no biggie for me.

[theducks]

They get them to roll over because they can't afford to defend themselves in a protracted battle.

It does not matter that the BPH may not actually win their claim in the end. If they ever let up on their defense, they lose. So they just cut their losses.

[Cinisajoy]

It could be because although you own the physical copy, they own the words in the physical copy.

Here is the thing about copying materials.
You can make yourself a copy. However, if you use a company to make the copy for you, they have the right to turn you down. It is called they are doing CYA. Also McGraw-Hill has deep pockets.
I know when I took a cross stitch pattern to the local print shop, they asked if it was for personal use.
That one cost a bit because the pattern was 2 by 3.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

It could be because although you own the physical copy, they own the words in the physical copy.

Nope. No one owns the words.

A publisher might hold a state-granted monopoly of the reproduction of said words, but no one owns them.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by theducks

...
It does not matter that the BPH may not actually win their claim in the end. ...

Though they probably would win. There is a substantial amount of US case law to that effect. Much of it involves coping other types of copyrighted material (e.g. photographs), but the same rules would apply to books. Even in situations where you might have the right to make a copy, a 3rd party has no right to do it for you, whether for free or for profit.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Nope. No one owns the words.

A publisher might hold a state-granted monopoly of the reproduction of said words, but no one owns them.

I meant the copyright.
Although that leads me to wonder about PD books. Were any of them published by McGraw-Hill or is that company too new?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I meant the copyright.
Although that leads me to wonder about PD books. Were any of them published by McGraw-Hill or is that company too new?

That is what the state-granted monopoly is called, yes.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Gardenman

How can McGraw Hill stop you from doing something with a book you own?

Originally Posted by theducks

It does not matter that the BPH may not actually win their claim in the end.

McGraw Hill is not a big publishing house as those are commonly referred to on this board. It is primarily a textbook publisher. Their business model is based on readers being more or less forced to buy, and read, their products. Perhaps they didn't see forcing owners of their titles not to scan them as going much further.