copyrighted material

[GaylaM]

I accidentally downloaded a few books before I noticed the warning about it being out of copyright ONLY in Canada. What do I do?

[HarleyB]

Is there a reason why you can't delete them?

[GaylaM]

I did delete it. I guess the better question was, will I receive one of those e-mail notice things about copyrighted material?

[jhempel24]

I doubt it

[sweevo]

You're fine.

But you might want to move to Canada just to be on the safe side.

[J. Strnad]

Just to be safe, send a $250,000 check to the FBI.

[HarryT]

You can download the majority of the books we have here perfectly legally; the notice says that the books ARE in the public domain in Canada, not that they are ONLY in the public domain in Canada. It's your responsibility to check whether or not the book is in the public domain where you live.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by GaylaM

I accidentally downloaded a few books before I noticed the warning about it being out of copyright ONLY in Canada. What do I do?

Relax. No-one's going to come after you for that. And anyway, most likely the books are also out of copyright where you are too.

If you say where you live, I'll happily give you some advice on what copyright length applies to you.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by GaylaM

... will I receive one of those e-mail notice things about copyrighted material?

Nobody knows or cares what you download, unless you install a Peer To Peer Program and while downloading a torrent you share it with 5000 of your closest friends around the word. How would a copyright owner find out you have a copy on your harddisk or on your reader?

In most jurisdictions you do not break any laws just by downloading something in good faith, unless it is child pornography, or plans for your country military bases or that kind of stuff. It would be different if you set out to seek material you know is copyrighted and for which you do not have permission to copy for your own use. But somebody would have to prove that you did not download it in good faith - believing you are not doing something wrong.

When you browse the net you download hundreds of files to your computer (it is called browser cache). How are you supposed to know if any of those are copyrighted? What if the photo you have seen on the CNN site this morning (and that sits in your browser cache at the moment) was published without the permission of the author? How are you supposed to know?

If it says that the book in public domain in Canada, or wherever, it doesn't mean it is NOT public domain where you live.

[GeoffC]

there are email notice things about copyrighted material ?

[GaylaM]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

I doubt it

j: I try to be a basically HONEST person. I know they're few and far between now days, but if I'm not supposed to have it, I don't.

Thanks, all! I live in the US, and I checked last night. The books are not out of copyright here. I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't lose my internet connection (the letters about copyrighted material.)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

there are email notice things about copyrighted material ?

Some people seem to be making a living from sending out claims for copyright infringement.

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2010/01/...ntinues-197714

http://www.law.mmu.ac.uk/2010/08/27/...-come-forward/

http://acsbore.wordpress.com/

[GeoffC]

those kind of emails .... !

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by GaylaM

I accidentally downloaded a few books before I noticed the warning about it being out of copyright ONLY in Canada. What do I do?

Just find the authors of those books and send them a check for $10 each... well, except you can't... since the authors have all been dead at least 50 years.

As others have pointed out, there is a good chance that those books are out of copyright in most other countries as well. If not, with a few exceptions (primarily ones that you can still easily find at your local bookstore), no one probably cares much. If anything the author's family is probably thrilled that anyone still cares enough about Dad/Mom, Grand-Dad or Grand-Ma's work to read it.

Copyright in the first few years protects the biggest authors (when the majority of sales are made), for the balance of their life, it protects mid-list authors who tend to make their living from the trickle of sales on their back-lists. It actually hurts authors who have fallen into obscurity since it provides a disincentive for people to publish or distribute their work (Since you have to track down the rights holder before you do anything.

--
Bill

[GeoffC]

Just move house to another country where they are out of copyright