Copyright Thoughts
Posted: 21 Aug 2013, 20:41
It's an inevitable topic that comes up, and I've seen bits and pieces here and at other sites, but I am interested and thought a new topic was appropriate to capture the discussions regarding copyright. I hope that others more conversant in the subject can expand and correct any misunderstandings that I present here.
So, you've built a book-scanner and are converting your book archive to e-readable format. You may want to preserve and/or archive your work (and it is a LOT of work) or share your now easily-distributable eBook copy to other interested folks. But what is permissible without running afoul of The Law?
This is a question that I have in my mind, and hope to learn far more here than I post. But here's some thoughts as starter material for the thread.
First, the reason copyright-laws exist is to protect the work of the original author(s) of material. Books (for instance) take a LOT of time to write and publish, and the originators of material should be properly compensated for their efforts. Any material that is copyright-able is intended to make sure that the original thoughts, art, music, whatever are not going to be "pirated" by others and in so doing dilute the potential monetary rewards to the originators.
This is my layman's understanding of the reason for copyright laws.
The laws themselves have been modified substantially in the past 40 years, and this is my understanding of how the present laws affect copyrightable material based on a reading of Circular 15a "Duration of Copyright" published by the U.S.Copyright Office. I will limit my discussion to books, but I believe copyright laws apply to any original material published in any format - music, photography, art, etc.
In the "Old Days" under the Copyright Act of 1909, a book could be copyrighted for an initial period of 28 years from the year of publication (or, if unpublished, year of registration), and the copyright could be renewed for an additional 28 years. The process required the author/publisher to apply for copyright registration, and the renewal also was required to be applied for. The process was not automatic, and provided a possible 56 year period of copyright protection.
The Copyright Act was amended in 1976, largely I believe under pressure due to the threat of VCR and Betamax home movie recorders to the movie industry. No matter what the reason, the 1976 law and subsequent amendments have substantially changed the nature of the copyright process and periods. The requirement for overt renewal was also removed, so that works under an original 28-year copyright period would automatically be renewed even if the author/publisher took no steps to do so. This is important when researching the copyright status of a particular book, as the government files might not contain any renewal status because the renewal was not applied for BUT the renewal took place automatically anyway.
To cut to the chase, this website has a summary of the copyright periods for basic published works. http://www.pdinfo.com/Copyright-Law/Copyright-Law.php
On that site, the following periods are summarized:
Which is further summarized in the Good News / Bad News:
(note: "PD" = "Public Domain")
There are many aspects of copyright law under consideration and debate, especially as regards works not generally considered commercially valuable. Of course, no publisher holding a copyright on a work is likely to be willing to see it turned into an easily distributed digital format even if the market for the book is long gone. An example of old college textbooks covering obsolete technology such as vacuum-tubes comes to mind. There will likely never again be college courses in Engineering teaching the theory and application of vacuum-tubes, yet many of these books contain information that should be preserved for those individuals who are interested in teaching themselves about such technology and many of the modern texts were published well into the late 1960s.
These books are not likely to ever be digitized by the publishers, as there is no real market (i.e. $$) and digitization efforts cost publishers money.
So in summary, distribution of copies of books printed after 1922 will likely violate copyright laws, and until the books fall into public domain or unless express permission has been obtained from the publisher/author such distribution can lead to serious legal problems.
Technically, making a copy of such a book even for your own personal library is illegal unless you personally own and keep the physical copy (at least, that is my understanding). And while it's unlikely that the Book Police will stage a raid on your house for doing so, it is certainly illegal to take such a copy and put it out on the internet even if you personally own the book - you risk not only personal liability but also getting the hosting websites in hot water!
I cannot say much more except that I believe preservation efforts for old books are an especially worthwhile effort. Forgotten old books disappear every day, hauled to landfills from old estates or destroyed in tragic accidents and fires. Some (if not all) of these books are irreplaceable. Even if the information in the books is obsolete, there is still value in preserving the records and techniques of bygone eras. Just look at the popularity of Civil War reenactments (or Renaissance Faires ) for examples of people interested in preserving the "old ways".
I hope others here can flesh out this discussion and correct any misunderstandings I have presented. I'm just an old book (and old-book!) reader and lover, but much like many of you I am very much interested in preserving even a small bit of what I can for others to access in the future.
Sam
So, you've built a book-scanner and are converting your book archive to e-readable format. You may want to preserve and/or archive your work (and it is a LOT of work) or share your now easily-distributable eBook copy to other interested folks. But what is permissible without running afoul of The Law?
This is a question that I have in my mind, and hope to learn far more here than I post. But here's some thoughts as starter material for the thread.
First, the reason copyright-laws exist is to protect the work of the original author(s) of material. Books (for instance) take a LOT of time to write and publish, and the originators of material should be properly compensated for their efforts. Any material that is copyright-able is intended to make sure that the original thoughts, art, music, whatever are not going to be "pirated" by others and in so doing dilute the potential monetary rewards to the originators.
This is my layman's understanding of the reason for copyright laws.
The laws themselves have been modified substantially in the past 40 years, and this is my understanding of how the present laws affect copyrightable material based on a reading of Circular 15a "Duration of Copyright" published by the U.S.Copyright Office. I will limit my discussion to books, but I believe copyright laws apply to any original material published in any format - music, photography, art, etc.
In the "Old Days" under the Copyright Act of 1909, a book could be copyrighted for an initial period of 28 years from the year of publication (or, if unpublished, year of registration), and the copyright could be renewed for an additional 28 years. The process required the author/publisher to apply for copyright registration, and the renewal also was required to be applied for. The process was not automatic, and provided a possible 56 year period of copyright protection.
The Copyright Act was amended in 1976, largely I believe under pressure due to the threat of VCR and Betamax home movie recorders to the movie industry. No matter what the reason, the 1976 law and subsequent amendments have substantially changed the nature of the copyright process and periods. The requirement for overt renewal was also removed, so that works under an original 28-year copyright period would automatically be renewed even if the author/publisher took no steps to do so. This is important when researching the copyright status of a particular book, as the government files might not contain any renewal status because the renewal was not applied for BUT the renewal took place automatically anyway.
To cut to the chase, this website has a summary of the copyright periods for basic published works. http://www.pdinfo.com/Copyright-Law/Copyright-Law.php
On that site, the following periods are summarized:
Which is further summarized in the Good News / Bad News:
(note: "PD" = "Public Domain")
There are many aspects of copyright law under consideration and debate, especially as regards works not generally considered commercially valuable. Of course, no publisher holding a copyright on a work is likely to be willing to see it turned into an easily distributed digital format even if the market for the book is long gone. An example of old college textbooks covering obsolete technology such as vacuum-tubes comes to mind. There will likely never again be college courses in Engineering teaching the theory and application of vacuum-tubes, yet many of these books contain information that should be preserved for those individuals who are interested in teaching themselves about such technology and many of the modern texts were published well into the late 1960s.
These books are not likely to ever be digitized by the publishers, as there is no real market (i.e. $$) and digitization efforts cost publishers money.
So in summary, distribution of copies of books printed after 1922 will likely violate copyright laws, and until the books fall into public domain or unless express permission has been obtained from the publisher/author such distribution can lead to serious legal problems.
Technically, making a copy of such a book even for your own personal library is illegal unless you personally own and keep the physical copy (at least, that is my understanding). And while it's unlikely that the Book Police will stage a raid on your house for doing so, it is certainly illegal to take such a copy and put it out on the internet even if you personally own the book - you risk not only personal liability but also getting the hosting websites in hot water!
I cannot say much more except that I believe preservation efforts for old books are an especially worthwhile effort. Forgotten old books disappear every day, hauled to landfills from old estates or destroyed in tragic accidents and fires. Some (if not all) of these books are irreplaceable. Even if the information in the books is obsolete, there is still value in preserving the records and techniques of bygone eras. Just look at the popularity of Civil War reenactments (or Renaissance Faires ) for examples of people interested in preserving the "old ways".
I hope others here can flesh out this discussion and correct any misunderstandings I have presented. I'm just an old book (and old-book!) reader and lover, but much like many of you I am very much interested in preserving even a small bit of what I can for others to access in the future.
Sam