Quote:
Originally Posted by writer012  I have a simple question:
may I sell public domain ebooks on a cd-rom or as a download if the exact same cd-rom is sold by someone else but do not have any indication (like deprivative work, website url) on it? |
If the work is truly a public domain work, and the e-book does not have any additional creative content over the public domain work, then there is nothing in copyright law that would prohibit you from copying and reselling the CD.
Quote:
|
If they do have a website url inside the ebooks but the ebooks themselves are in ebook, I am not violation any U.S.A. copyright law right?
|
If they have added material to the public domain work, then if you copy the CD verbatim you run the risk of an infringement lawsuit.
You could remove everything other than the public domain materials and then copy and resell the public domain materials, however.
Quote:
|
well they are for example the quran, the public doman of bible books and other famous religion books.
|
Be careful -- make sure these really are public domain works. Translations of foreign language works into another language can give rise to copyright protections in the translation. There is a fair amount of caselaw on this. An English-language version of the Qu'ran, for example, may be covered by copyright if the translation was done after 1923. You will need to do your homework.
And other religious books similarly may still be covered by copyright. For example, there is a "new" version of the bible being prepared -- presumably this new version of the bible will be copyrighted, although the preparers may voluntarily give it up to the public domain. But it won't automatically be a public domain work.
In any event, if you buy an ebook and copy it for resale, expect to get some harassment from the original seller -- even if they don't really have a leg to stand on from a legal perspective.
09-18-2009, 08:26 PM
Linear Mode
