On Wed, Mar 03, 2010 at 08:04:32AM +0100, Marcello Perathoner wrote:
Greg Newby wrote:
But as Robert mentioned, that doesn't change that the public domain content is still public domain...no matter how much value has been added through scanning, OCR, proofreading, etc. What happens if such content mysterioulsy, untraceably extracts itself from DP and becomes available elsewhere? Well, it's still public domain.
But you would sue them for trespass, not for copyright infringement.
Right. That was the point I was making. But finding a lawyer to take the case is tough. Getting the case before a judge is tougher. Pursuing yourself (i.e., in small claims court) is possible for people with time on their hands, but it limited in various ways.
PS: Over the years, I've been involved in various efforts to bring legal remedies to online incidents. It is very hard to do, especially when there is little or no money involved. Doubly-especially if any of the actors are in different countries. Robert's emphasis on technical measures, versus more legalistic ones, is more likely to give satisfaction.
Amazon would be an US company though. And sueing Amazon would bring some interesting facts to the public attention as to the provenience of some material they DRM.
Amazon is an interesting and somewhat unique example (Google, Apple and Microsoft are also interesting, and unique in their own ways). You are right that PG or DP could sue Amazon. Some days, I think we should (they sell a lot of Project Gutenberg titles - with the "small print" intact, in various illegitimate ways). What we're talking about, though, is intentional tresspass on DP. I would be surprised if Amazon or the other big companies were interested in that. -- Greg