Copyright on books

[Mabs]

so i have some really old books long out of print, and wondering what the legal position is on scanning them etc before they fall to pieces and saving/distributing them to people ?

anyone know how it works or any pointers would be helpful, cheer

 

[Tom]

IIRC copyright free 70 years following the author's death.

 

[leggy]

Who gives a shit? You own them and want to preserve the words (and I doubt many people want to read a scanned book anyway) - Just do it . I have a few but it's a pain in the arse

 

[Moriath]

Download the book from a torrent. Easier than scanning

 

[Mabs]

Download the book from a torrent. Easier than scanning

doesnt exist in torrent

 

[Tom]

Google Books often has old books like this, as does the Internet Archive - https://archive.org/index.php

Have you looked on either of those?

 

[Chilly]

so i have some really old books long out of print, and wondering what the legal position is on scanning them etc before they fall to pieces and saving/distributing them to people ?

anyone know how it works or any pointers would be helpful, cheer

If it's out of copyright (quite likely, given the age) then you're totally within your rights to do so. Also, the work you produce (the scanned piece) is now YOURS and you have copyright on it. You may sell this for whatever you like and keep all the profits (minus any taxes etc). My step father does this with very old atlases that are out of copyright and sells high resolution scans of plates from the best ones on his website. He owns the copyright on the scanned work and prohibits further distribution as is his right.

 

[Tom]

He may own the copyright on the work he's done, but he doesn't own the copyright on the map. If someone else decides to scan and sell those maps, there isn't a lot he can do about that.

 

[CorNokZ]

He could burn down their house and destroy their work and original maps.

 

[Scouse]

doesnt exist in torrent

What books?

 

[Raven]

He may own the copyright on the work he's done, but he doesn't own the copyright on the map. If someone else decides to scan and sell those maps, there isn't a lot he can do about that.

He would own the copyright of his own hi-res scan. Ergo, someone would have to also have access to a good quality original to scan.