Scanned public domain works
David
A hypothetical for your informed discussion please,
Entity A scans some public domain works (old books, magazines, tech
publications, or whatever) into non-password protected pdf (Acrobat)
files and puts the files on CD. Entity A then markets and sells the
CD. Entity B takes some of the pdf files from the CD and puts them on
his website for free download. Would entity A have any valid legal
claim against entity B for putting the files on the internet for free
download? In other words, has the process of scanning the public
domain works somehow given the resulting pdf files some kind of
copyrighted status or some other form of protected legal status?
Thanks,
David
P.S. What are the "tnn" newsgroups? :)
zrad78j91
is a requirement for copyright. This is absent in the scenario you
describe. The idea of originality being a requirement is explored at
http://chart.copyrightdata.com/c16C.html. This page summarizes several
court decisions on this subject, starting with Supreme Court decisions. Pay
particular attention to the "White Pages" case (Feist Publications, Inc. vs.
Rural Tel. Service Co.).
On the same site, but at a different page,
http://chart.copyrightdata.com/c10B.html, there are summaries of several
cases which involve slight or modest differences between versions of a work.
You can read that the Supreme Court ruled that merely reproducing a magazine
serial (which was public domain) into a single book did not qualify for
copyright on the basis of the obvious sequencing or arrangement of the
articles. However, where there is more judgment involved, a new version of
a public domain work can be eligible for separate copyright, as in another
case on the same page (direct link:
http://chart.copyrightdata.com/c10B.html#s014), which decided that a
pan-and-scanned version of a public domain movie was entitled to copyright.
"David" <da...@nomailformetoday.com> wrote in message
news:rb72a31kj96m3i3fp...@4ax.com...
David
Thanks!