Countrys where it is legal to download?

[Billi]

Actually, we have some lawyers who earn extremely good money with admonishing downloaders (although that might be a little bit off-topic as it mostly regards downloaders of movies, sorry, John F).

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The point being, of course, that if you're using a peer-to-peer network, you are uploading at the same time that you're downloading, hence this would appear to be a moot point.

Not necessarily. That's the default way that most of them work, but there are ways around it.

There are also lots of ways to download something that isn't P2P.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by John F

What are the countries that it is legal to download copyrighted ebooks in?

All of them?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

It is probably best to obey the letter of the law, which pretty much states that downloading an ebook without permission (i.e. creative commons license, purchasing it) is illegal.

Which law says that you need permission to download?

[Terisa de morgan]

Spain. It's LEGAL, and the letter of the law says it. It's only illegal to upload it and keep the links if there's profit. Problem is: we pay a tax over printers, scanners, harddisks, CDs, phones, for our right to private copy. And uploads and downloads in Internet are covered by it. I don't tell if it is ethic or isn't. I tell it's legal, and that's the reason they keep on making law as patches: they don't want download but they want the taxes.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Which law says that you need permission to download?

In most countries, copyright law makes it an offence to create an unauthorised copy of a copyrighted work. The act of downloading creates such a copy.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

All of them?

I was assuming it was a short list. The list of Countries where it is illegal is acceptable, if that is easier.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In most countries, copyright law makes it an offence to create an unauthorised copy of a copyrighted work. The act of downloading creates such a copy.

We all download copyrighted material from the internet every day (just about every web page, picture, text, etc is copyrighted unless it's already in the public domain). It's practically impossible to use the internet without downloading copyrighted material.

If the act of downloading means that you have violated copyright, then every single one of us is guilty.

[HarryT]

John,

I believe that what Shaggy was saying was that you asked what countries it's legal to download copyrighted books in. You didn't qualify it by saying "without the permission of the copyright holder". It is indeed legal to download copyrighted ebooks in every country if you have the copyright holder's permission to do so.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

We all download copyrighted material from the internet every day (just about every web page, picture, text, etc is copyrighted unless it's already in the public domain). It's practically impossible to use the internet without downloading copyrighted material.

If the act of downloading means that you have violated copyright, then every single one of us is guilty.

This is pure sophistry, and you know it .

[Giggleton]

We must first define what a copy is. I would venture that simply creating a transient representation of a text onto a screen is not a copy, but printing out a text onto a semipermanent piece of paper is.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I believe that what Shaggy was saying was that you asked what countries it's legal to download copyrighted books in. You didn't qualify it by saying "without the permission of the copyright holder". It is indeed legal to download copyrighted ebooks in every country if you have the copyright holder's permission to do so.

I don't contact the copyright holder and ask them for permission before I click on every website. Do you?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

This is pure sophistry, and you know it .

Not at all.

[Shaggy]

Think of it this way. Pick any word at random and enter it into a google search. Now click on the first link that shows up in the list. The point being, you have no idea what content you're about to download and you have no idea who it's coming from.

Did you just violate copyright?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I don't contact the copyright holder and ask them for permission before I click on every website. Do you?

Here's another example. A customer buys an ebook from Amazon where the copyright is held by a third party Publisher. Who needs to get permission from the Publisher, Amazon or the customer?