those ftp's and their downloads

[jimwig]

trying to get some feed back concerning this most available and controversial topic

the topic being the downloading of properties (in this case books) from file transfer protocol sites.

i have gotten books from ftp sites in the past.

i rationalize it by saying if the books were not available i could never afford to buy the books and therefore the profit from sales is a mute point.

i could use local libraries and interlibrary loan but this would necessitate zeroxing for my own study and use. this is almost the same as downloading but not quite.

i however will not market the downloads. that is a clearcut violation.

this gray area is contentional. i live vicariously and am generally speaking homeless on a VA pension. i think i would curtail doing this is i thought real harm was being done by my actions.

please tell me what you think.

 

[NuggetHuntingFool]

Most of the good refining/recovery/precious metal books are out of copyright anyways. So download away!!

 

[SilverFox]

I was under the impression that copyrights never expired, unlike patents which i believe only hang around for about 10 years before they are required to be renewed.

But someone may need to check my facts, I am not positive.

 

[Husker]

I was under the impression that copyrights never expired, unlike patents which i believe only hang around for about 10 years before they are required to be renewed.

But someone may need to check my facts, I am not positive.

Copyrights (US law at least) only last 75 years (expected lifespan of the author). After that, the work becomes public domain (I believe). NOTE, I am not a lawyer, but am pretty sure of this info.

I think patents last 13 or 17 years.

Jim.

 

[Husker]

It appears I was wrong.

http://library.dts.edu/Pages/RM/Helps/copyright.shtml

Copyright is 28 years, + 67 more on an extension (NOTE extension originally was not automatically granted, so many works expired at 28 years). Then in 1978, it changed to 70 years after the death of the author. Books from 64 to 77 were automatically renewed, thus had 98 years of copyright.

Jim.