Copyright laws that Gutenberg potentially violates?

[raolduke]

copyright laws that Gutenberg "potentially" violates?

http://www.gutenberg.org

Could someone explain the copyright laws that Gutenberg "potentially" violates?

They use scanners that translate image into text and then go over by hand to fix errors?

Are there people on this forum that are part of Gutenberg?


Besides that this site seems awesome and a very awesome project.. Is there anyone on the board that has a problem with this site? Please elaborate.

 

[TMFKAN64]

If you are in the U.S., none. The PG people are careful to only put up books whose copyrights have expired in the U.S. However, different countries have different copyright laws, so rather than do a country-by-country vetting of each text, they just warn that you should check your local copyright laws before downloading.

I thought that the U.S. actually had longer than usual copyrights, but I could be wrong...

Or were you concerned about the situation in a particular country?

 

[raolduke]

I understand the copy right laws between countries i.e torrents and sweden. I thought the copy right law was a life time plus 50 years, not sure though. All of these "e-books" are credible? I did a bit of reading but I didn't understand how all of this was possible. The bit about copyrights expiring makes sense.

 

[TMFKAN64]

I'm not sure what you mean by "credible"... they are "real" books, and I'm positive the PG folks have done their due diligence with respect to U.S. copyrights. (The U.S. is probably the most litigous society on earth... I'm certain they'd be shut down right quick otherwise! )

 

[NeoDevin]

It's a website that operates out of the US, and they have been careful to follow US copyright laws. If you live outside the US, where the laws are different, then the free books may or may not be legal in your area.

They are just protecting themselves by saying to check your local laws before using the material they offer.

 

[raolduke]

I know about copy right laws..
The project is respected and the texts are genuine?
Thats what I am getting from it..
Its a lot nicer to print something from that site rather then going and spending money at a book store. If they are not serving justice to the books they "digitalize" then I won't donate to their cause.