ranamacar - 20-6-2006 at 07:54
This is probably a question that has been asked and answered before, but I can't find it in the forum so I'll ask it again.
How long is a copyright in effect, and how do you check to see if it has been extended?
I have several old books that may be of interest to the group, but don't want the hassles of copyright infringement. I may need some help getting them
scanned and converted to PDF format (there has to be a cheaper way than buying Adobe's Acrobat), and recomendations on a scanner.
BTW, has anyone here checked out the Gutenberg Project? It's a free on-line library of public domain books that I'm just starting to search through.
ranamacar
=SkyNET= - 20-6-2006 at 09:19
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright#How_long_copyright_la...
S.C. Wack - 20-6-2006 at 12:46
Maybe the copyright office has a word or two on the subject.
There is fair use exemption in US copyright law and I feel that all of the books that I present here are exempt. They are facts distributed to a small
audience for educational purposes for free and posted on non-commercial sites only. All but a couple are out of print, and the sales of those will not
be affected by my scans. If anyone got money out of this, then things would look different.
jimmyboy - 20-6-2006 at 13:40
scan them and share if they are worthwhile - freedom of information is wonderful - just dont put your name on them (keep anonymous)
Polverone - 20-6-2006 at 20:28
You're certainly safe if they were published before 1923. Anything after that may require extensive research to verify status. I don't think fair use
technically covers reproduction of entire books -- there are limits even in research and teaching -- but as a practical matter I've never heard of
anyone harassed for distributing out-of-print nonfiction, although one of our older members did catch the attention of a German publisher for
sharing some still-in-print books from the 1970s, and had to cease and desist. The library here has never been a problem.
neutrino - 21-6-2006 at 12:36
About the PDF thing:
I'd recommend using the freeware apps available online to convert to PDF format. Many are out there, although you should keep in mind that this kind
of software is usually written for linux. Several members here use linux, so just drop us a line if you need anything converted.
On second thought, why use PDF? Another format, DJVU is designed expressly for scanned ebooks and works better. Take a certain book I have on my
computer as an example. This book is well over 400 pages. Many (most?) of these pages are covered with structures of molecules. All the pages are
black and white and crystal clear. The file size? 3MB 
Again, there are a number of free linux tools for djvu.
There was a guide on making ebooks at roguesci.org, but I can't find it. I know it's there; you may want to take a look.