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Re: [Phys-L] Textbooks that no longer be found.




Here is a useful website for copyright questions and answers...

https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Copyright_FAQ



On 01/05/2015 09:47 PM, Richard Heckathorn wrote:
With the advent of good scanners, can one legally scan a textbook
that can no longer be found into searchable pdf format and make it
digitally available for use by students in a classroom?

I am not a lawyer, but the answer in "most" cases is NO.
Out-of-print does not mean out-of-copyright.

The law doesn't have to be logical, but in this case there
actually is some logic to it: The copyright holder might be
just waiting for demand to build up to the point where it is
worth making another print run.

There is one spectacular exception, relevant to our recent
discussion: Copyright on the /first/ edition of PSSC _Physics_
was allowed to lapse in 1988. All later editions are protected
by long-term copyright, but the first edition is now in the
public domain.

AFAICT nobody has gotten around to scanning it.

-----------

Another possibility is that if you can find the copyright
holder for a book -- out-of-print or otherwise -- you can
ask pretty please for permission to make copies. For
example, Caltech went to a *lot* of trouble to track down
all the stakeholders and get permission to put the
Feynman lectures on line.
http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/

I imagine Kendall/Hunt currently owns the copyright to
the 7th (i.e. last) edition of PSSC _Physcs_. They probably
don't value it too highly. Maybe somebody like APS could
talk them into donating it, or at least licensing it for
online distribution.
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