Is it legal to resell free content in USA ?

[HarryT]

You can do anything you want with material that's in the public domain - sell it, rewrite it, use it for loo paper. Anything.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by H-P

Hi,
Don't you have in US some commerce rules ? The question wasn't about the the right to publish a text which is domain public.

The question is
The right to resell the free work done as a free work by someone by a human. Imagine in the real world. Someone has a business, in the usa, can you work for free for your boss ? By this way, do you think than you boss can take all the market, because his product are cheaper.
Do you think that a company which give a salary can stay in competition with an other one which resell work done for free.
I know than Gutemberg project say than the content can be used for business, but if gutemberg project say, you can kill your mother... Can you say it legal because Gutemberg, say me. I've this public domaine right. )
In one word domain public has some rules but domain public is just on law.

Alien writer too

The point I was making in my earlier post is that there are different types of free. There is free PD and there is the case of a new book that is being offered for free. The one can be repackaged and sold by anyone, and the other is still under copyright to the author. For example at smashwords books have text before the story itself that reads This book may not be re-sold or given away without permission in writing from the author. No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, or distributed in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means past, present or future. And that's even on the books offered free of charge.

[H-P]

Crich70,

Sorry with my english, i understand your reply but that not the real subject. DP isn't the God law (my point of view). Is a company can sell content done for free in USA. Is a company can be in competition in the business with an other one which give moneys to his workers. Don't you have commerce laws, which give some rules.

Is free works done by volunteers, can be reselled by a company without infringements of commerce laws. Even if a wesite say do what you want with it ! That not a copyright violation problem but....


So you want to make money, you want to be a publisher based on dp....Work baby and you should work hard, very hard to earn some dollars.

[QuantumIguana]

You can say that copyright isn't God, but copyright is in fact the law. If a work is in the public domain, you cannot gain a copyright on it, it never becomes your property.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

You can say that copyright isn't God, but copyright is in fact the law. If a work is in the public domain, you cannot gain a copyright on it, it never becomes your property.

You can add stuff to it, though, and you do hold a copyright on the added material.

[H-P]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

You can say that copyright isn't God, but copyright is in fact the law. If a work is in the public domain, you cannot gain a copyright on it, it never becomes your property.

Copyright is one law. I never spoke about gain a copyright on materiel ! read again my post, even i'm not skakespeare

update : found the US expression it's all about "Unfair competition".

[crich70]

I recently got a package of 5 miniposters of the Twilight movies for free at my local Wal-Mart. The posters were a free handout, but that doesn't mean I could scan them into a computer and print up copies to sell. Even though they were free giveaways if I did that I'd be guilty of copyright infringement. The company that printed up the posters still retains copyright for them. The fact that they were given away free doesn't change that, and the same applies to books that are given away free. If you write a book and give it away free that doesn't mean I can buy a copy, duplicate the file and resell it. I'd be breaking the law since the book is copyrighted to you.

[SleepyBob]

Originally Posted by H-P

Crich70,

Sorry with my english, i understand your reply but that not the real subject. DP isn't the God law (my point of view). Is a company can sell content done for free in USA. Is a company can be in competition in the business with an other one which give moneys to his workers. Don't you have commerce laws, which give some rules.

Is free works done by volunteers, can be reselled by a company without infringements of commerce laws. Even if a wesite say do what you want with it ! That not a copyright violation problem but....


So you want to make money, you want to be a publisher based on dp....Work baby and you should work hard, very hard to earn some dollars.

Yes, you can sell content that was done for free, if you have the rights to it, which is where copyright laws come into play. I don't see where unfair competition comes into it, which mainly revolves around fraud, deception, or illegal merchandising.

[QuantumIguana]

If you're going to sell something that people can get for free, you're going to need to provide some added value. The public domain is not unfair competition. Should I sell air and then object when people breathe air for free?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

If you're going to sell something that people can get for free, you're going to need to provide some added value. The public domain is not unfair competition. Should I sell air and then object when people breathe air for free?

Companies like the British Oxygen Company have made highly successful businesses out of selling air. As you say, you have to provide added value compared to the free version. In BOC's case, the added value is compressing air and separating it into its constituent gases.

[LovesMacs]

Not all free content is public domain. I have a few photographs on Wikimedia Commons that can be freely reused but whoever does that is supposed to say that the photographs came from me (or at least Wikimedia). I don't care that much whether I get attribution because I uploaded the photos more for my use on Wikipedia and frankly it's not my best work either.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by H-P

update : found the US expression it's all about "Unfair competition".

No. There's no way to suppress publication of public domain material on the basis of unfair competition.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Companies like the British Oxygen Company have made highly successful businesses out of selling air. As you say, you have to provide added value compared to the free version. In BOC's case, the added value is compressing air and separating it into its constituent gases.

Maybe I read through the thread too quickly. But while source material in the Public Domain is available for anyone to use, Can't individual's work done to format and present the PD material be copyrighted (or at least protected in some way)?

If not, how can Barnes and Noble publish various classic PD books with copyright notices in them?

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

Not all free content is public domain. I have a few photographs on Wikimedia Commons that can be freely reused but whoever does that is supposed to say that the photographs came from me (or at least Wikimedia). I don't care that much whether I get attribution because I uploaded the photos more for my use on Wikipedia and frankly it's not my best work either.

Well, technically your photos are not free, they are without charge. The cost to use your photos is providing proper accreditation. There is some financial and labor cost in to the user to make sure your are properly credited.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

If not, how can Barnes and Noble publish various classic PD books with copyright notices in them?

Anyone can publish PD works with copyright notices in them. Whether the copyright notice is valid is another thing. I don't think there's any US or UK law forbidding the placement of a copyright notice on something that's in the public domain.

In the UK there is a typographic copyright that lasts for 25 years from the date of publication. But the law as written only applies to printed material. Although it should probably apply to ebooks, it's not certain that it really does.