Hannes Hirzel wrote:
On Sat, 16 Mar 2002, Ian wrote:
On Thu, 14 Mar 2002, Hannes Hirzel hirzel@spw.unizh.ch XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX wrote:
That's not possible from the point of view of the copyright law as scanning is not a creative expression and the copyright of the original material has expired. The only thing which is possible is to claim copyright on additional markup, layout, presentation and additional graphics.
HJH
Then how come in Project Gutenberg, as I understand it, you have to use an actual old copy of the book? If you want to digitize Mark Twain, you can't pick up a copy at Wal-Mart, you have to go to the used book store.
Perhaps I'm mistaken.
Ian Monroe http://mlug.missouri.edu/~eean/
Because it is possible that the Wal-Mart copy is edited, this means has modernized spelling and perhaps additional footsnotes or remarks. The editing process makes it a new work of which again somebody holds the copyright.
So to be sure you are on the safe side you better use the 70 year old edition. If you are sure that the Wal-Mart edition is character by character identical to the 70 year old version you could use it.
The problem, I think, is that publishers make all kinds of unsuported claims. For example, from the Bibliomania.com FAQ:
---- What is the copyright status of texts on Bibliomania.com?
Most texts on our site are in the public domain. However Bibliomania.com Ltd has copyright in the HTML versions we have created for our web site. You are free to download these texts for personal use, but they may not be used for any commercial purpose, or republished in any form (including on the internet) without our prior email permission. Bibliomania.com Ltd has and will take legal action worldwide to protect its rights. ----