On 4/12/06, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Matt Brown wrote:
If Bridgeman v. Corel is overturned, then I can still copy MY copy of the book, but I cannot take someone else's scans from their website and use those.
If the original image was in the public domain there is nothing wrong about your using someone else's scan of the image. That other person's scan of a public domain work is not copyrightable.
Ah, you're missing the point, or rather the IF statement that the rest of the sentence depends on. I personally believe the decision in Bridgeman v. Corel is correct and that a scan, photograph, or other "slavish copy" of 2-dimensional artwork does not create new copyright.
/However/, I was discussing the case IF Bridgeman v. Corel was overturned and, say, Supreme Court precedent is set that even such a slavish copy creates copyright, THEN you can't use other peoples' scans without permission.
-Matt