On 10/17/06, Platonides Platonides@gmail.com wrote:
Instead of buying them the journals, maps and so on which are in fact PD, why don't we politely ask for them and -if denied- use the millions to *sue* them? Some clever demands could make free a great number of items which paractically are not. Note: we must make sure that they at last get free. E.g. our queryying could be to the originals to digitalize them (for web-publishing).
*Can* we sue? My understanding was that if they sold us copies and then tried to restrict redistribution of those PD works (and no EULA or contract was signed) simply through copyright mechanisms, then we'd have some sort of legal recourse, but that we can't demand that they make the works physically available simply because they happen to be PD if they decline to have us as customers.
--Gwern