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by a former member 2 views

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is PDFing of copyrighted books the same as copying the book?

Is it against the law?

9 replies

by Former member

Clarifications

by thumbsup2

Yes, copying it in any form can be construed as a copywrite infringement. But, it depends on what you're doing WITH that copy. If you're copying it so you don't have to purchase (or borrow) the book so you can read it, you're in violation. If you're making a copy of your own books (ones you own) for backup purposes, it's probably not a violation. But, if you're using text from those copies in some other document, you need to be citing where you copied it from.

by Former member

say that the book was purchased. the book is a collection of studies. PDFs of the book are to be used in projects paid for by clients. would PDFing in this case be copyright infringement?

by 1bn0

Contact the copyright holder and ask them.

They have the right to allow or disallow your intended use.

by oh smeg

It would most likely be a Infringement of Copyright converting the Book to PDF but it would certainly be a Copyright Infringement sending those PDF files to several different users.

What you need to do here is contact the Copyright Owner they will tell you exactly what you can and can not do. They may even sell your a License to do what is required or depending on who will be using these PDF Files may even allow you to perform this operation.

Generally speaking however when a Book of Case Studies is written it is expected that everyone who will use it will buy a copy.

Col

by thumbsup2

I agree that contacting the people who published the book would be the only way to go forward with this.

In addition to the reasons previously stated, you would definately be guilty of copywrite infringement if you 'sell' the product you create without permission to do so. Personal use is one thing, but selling it is way out of bounds.

by older mycroft

In much the same way as photocopying then selling the photocopies as your own work is plagiarism, but still photocopies.

The danger with PDFs is that the digital image quality of the 'photocopy' is indistinguishable from the original - so you'd be earning money from selling-on someone else's work.

Very dodgy, very dodgy indeed. ;)

by bizzo

Looking at one book I have, the copyright message says:

"This book may not be duplicated in any way without the express written consent of the publisher, ... The information contained herein is for the personal use of the reader and may not be incorporated in any commercial programs, other books, databases or any kind of software ... Making copies of this book or any portion for any other purpose than your own is a violation of United States law."

I'm sure the copyright in most texts are similarly worded.

So yes, copying a book, adding it to a project, and then selling the project, is in direct violation, unless you have written consent from the publisher

by raven2

In the USA, copyrighted work is protected by some stiff penalties if it is used for other than personal use. And even that is legally limited; "personal use" is defined as small sections used to illustrate points and then it must be correctly attributed. College and school papers are usually not a problem, but as soon as you include copyrighted work in "work product" you should get clearance from your own legal department and from the copyright holder.

Even if you do not lose the law suit your legal bills will be horrendous.
IMPORTANT NOTE:This includes visual material, photos and other visual from the web. Just because you can download it, it does not mean it is public domain.

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