Scanning out-of-print books and documentation

From: Lawrence LeMay <lemay_at_cs.umn.edu>
Date: Wed Apr 12 17:28:48 2000

its been a couple years since I looked into copyright penalties, but if
i recall correctly there is a fairly large cash penalty for violating
copyright, and you can either chose that penalty OR seek actual damages
if you can prove greater than the fixed amount in damages.

-Lawrence LeMay

> 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 outdated hardware) Check the publisher's website, amazon.com, fatbrain.com,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 - 17:28:48 BST