Magazine Copyright question

[Pablo]

Looking in the Internet Archive, I found the Dec 1951 issue of the Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. See here

I am interested in this particular issue because it features one of my favourite short stories: Pillar to Post, by John Wyndham. This remarkable work was later included in the book The seeds of time, which I own (or rather treasure) as pbook.

My question is this: this issue of Galaxy Science Fiction seems to be out of copyright, at least somewhere, otherwise, it wouldn't be hosted in the Internet Archive, right? And if it is out of copyright, is it all right to use it to make an ebook? In particular, I would be interested in making an ebook of Pillar to Post only, not the whole issue.

[HarryT]

Presumably out of copyright in the US because the copyright wasn't renewed. Should be OK for you in Argentina, because Argentinian copyright law incorporates the "rule of the shorter term". So yes, I'd say you're OK.

But please don't upload it to the MR library. It wouldn't be OK for here.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Presumably out of copyright in the US because the copyright wasn't renewed. Should be OK for you in Argentina, because Argentinian copyright law incorporates the "rule of the shorter term". So yes, I'd say you're OK.

But please don't upload it to the MR library. It wouldn't be OK for here.

Thanks Harry! I wanted to make an epub to upload to the MR library, but was not sure if it was ok. Now I know.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Pablo

Thanks Harry! I wanted to make an epub to upload to the MR library, but was not sure if it was ok. Now I know.

No, I'm afraid we can only accept uploads which are "life+70" compliant these days. Sorry.

It would be fine for you personally, though (and for people in the UK, too, for that matter).

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But please don't upload it to the MR library. It wouldn't be OK for here.

Why? Is it still in copyright in Canada?

edit - nevermind

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Why? Is it still in copyright in Canada?

Our library is "life+70" these days.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Our library is "life+70" these days.

Thanks; we were posting at the same time.

[HarryT]

No problem at all .

[Dr. Drib]

Be aware that this website often has extremely execrable uploads. Sometimes, (as it seems to appear on looking at the issue that has been linked), the yellowing paper is exactly what it looks like: Yellow. In this case, it looks at least to be 'readable.'

Sometimes, too, the acidity has reached such a stage that one can hardly make out the words for the background color.



Don

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Be aware that this website often has extremely execrable uploads. Sometimes, (as it seems to appear on looking at the issue that has been linked), the yellowing paper is exactly what it looks like: Yellow. In this case, it looks at least to be 'readable.'

Sometimes, too, the acidity has reached such a stage that one can hardly make out the words for the background color.



Don

That having been said, it's a wonderful resource for page scans for proofing the classics against, and also for getting illustrations for books.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Be aware that this website often has extremely execrable uploads. Sometimes, (as it seems to appear on looking at the issue that has been linked), the yellowing paper is exactly what it looks like: Yellow. In this case, it looks at least to be 'readable.'

Sometimes, too, the acidity has reached such a stage that one can hardly make out the words for the background color.



Don

I am perfectly aware of that fact. I was willing to OCR, convert, correct and proofread the story for the benefit of the MR community, but wanted to make sure it was suitable for upload before starting work.

I am very fond of this short story and of Dumb Martian, also by Wyndham, which was published by Galaxy Science Fiction sometime during 1952.

Sadly, it will not be posible.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Be aware that this website often has extremely execrable uploads. Sometimes, (as it seems to appear on looking at the issue that has been linked), the yellowing paper is exactly what it looks like: Yellow. In this case, it looks at least to be 'readable.'

Sometimes, too, the acidity has reached such a stage that one can hardly make out the words for the background color.



Don

Well, at least they've been electronically preserved before they get any worse!

That being said, I have a used book store that frequently has old SF and Mystery magazines. I've been able to buy some copies of issues that I had bought when I first discovered the pulps, back in the early 60s.

I have been trying my hand at converting some of these for myself -- they won't be ready for MR for years.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Pablo

My question is this: this issue of Galaxy Science Fiction seems to be out of copyright, at least somewhere, otherwise, it wouldn't be hosted in the Internet Archive, right?

Wrong, I'm afraid. Lots of material that Internet Archive loans is copyrighted in every nation.

See:

The Internet Archive’s Open Library is violating authors’ copyrights

So why doesn't Internet Archive get the Kim Dotcom treatment?

Here are some guesses:

-- So few people are satisfied reading uncorrected scans, with a two week DRM-enforced borrowing limit, that it doesn't seem economically worth it to sue for such a violation

-- Maybe they promptly obey takedown notices, and then never re-post that book or magazine

-- They have powerful friends. (Librarians are powerful? Well, I said these are guesses.)

For what I mean by friends, see:

https://openlibrary.org/libraries

P.S. Another possibility is that what Open Library is doing -- lending out one copy at a time of a scanned paper book that was purchased -- would be ruled legal by appellate courts. Now, my guess is that it would be ruled illegal by appellate courts. But if I was a prosecutor, with limited resources, I would not go after a lawbreaker if there seemed even a small chance that what we would be changing him or her with is actually legal.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Wrong, I'm afraid. Lots of material that Internet Archive loans is copyrighted in every nation.

See:

The Internet Archive’s Open Library is violating authors’ copyrights

So why doesn't Internet Archive get the Kim Dotcom treatment?

Here are some guesses:

-- So few people are satisfied reading uncorrected scans, with a two week DRM-enforced borrowing limit, that it doesn't seem economically worth it to sue for such a violation

-- Maybe they promptly obey takedown notices, and then never re-post that book or magazine

-- They have powerful friends. (Librarians are powerful? Well, I said these are guesses.)

For what I mean by friends, see:

https://openlibrary.org/libraries

P.S. Another possibility is that what Open Library is doing -- lending out one copy at a time of a scanned paper book that was purchased -- would be ruled legal by appellate courts. Now, my guess is that it would be ruled illegal by appellate courts. But if I was a prosecutor, with limited resources, I would not go after a lawbreaker if there seemed even a small chance that what we would be changing him or her with is actually legal.

The magazine I am talking about is hosted in the Internet Archive, not in the Open Library.

You can download anything from the Internet Archive and keep it. It's not a loan. You don't even need an account to download from the Internet Archive.

The Open Library works as any other online library. You need an account and, unless you read online, you need ADE installed in your computer, because the documents are DRMed and when you borrow a book, it becomes unavailable to other users.

[kennyc]

The other thing I'm not seeing discussed above is that the copyright on the Magazine and the copyright on the Story are (often) different things. The magazine copyright may have expired and not the story or vice-versa.