Scanning out-of-print books and documentation

From: Craig Smith <ip500_at_roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Wed Apr 12 16:49:30 2000

Jason has hit hit the nail directly with the hammer--DAMAGES are
the germane point. I'd guess you could go ahead and put almost anything,
copyrighted or no up on the web. In the unlikely event that the
copyright holder ever becomes aware of your infringement---probably the
worse case would be a cease and desist letter requiring you to take it
down. Very difficult if not impossible for them to prove damages--if the
work is long out of print there would be NO damages to prove anyway.
        NB: Free legal advice is worth exactly what you paid for it!
Craig

Jason McBrien wrote:
>
> Generally, if the publisher of the book or manual is still in business, they
> still own the copyright for the next 80 or so years. They tend to get upset
> if you redistribute it free of charge.
>
> However, if the book hasn't been published in quite a long time, the
> publisher won't care quite as much (I.E. it's hard to prove damages in court
> if you haven't published the book in question for 10 years, especially for
> outdated hardware) Check the publisher's website, amazon.com, fatbrain.com,
> etc... to see if it still in print or available. Better yet ask the
> publisher if you can redistribute it. I've seen many websites with
> reproduced instruction cards and owner's manuals with consent of the
> publisher. Just make sure all the (TM)s and (R)s are in the right places.
> Good luck.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ram Meenakshisundaram" <rmeenaks_at_olf.com>
> To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2000 10:52 AM
> Subject: Scanning out-of-print books and documentation
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I want to start scanning some of the transputer books and manuals that I
> > have. A lot if not all are out-of-print. If I scan them and put them on
> > the net, do I have to worry about copyright laws, etc. Would I get into
> any
> > trouble?? What is the current policy on this?? I know several of you
> guys
> > scanned several books/documentation/manuals etc for various machines. Any
> > help in this would be appreciated. Oh, what about old software too.
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Ram
> >
> >
Received on Wed Apr 12 2000 - 16:49:30 BST