Discussion:
I run an online library that contains public domain texts. There are many sites like mine, the president of the most popular one (the oldest one, the one with the most money, whatever you want to call it), sent me an email today. The email itself was very unofficial, one thing he specifically said sounded like an ultimatum.
"I hope this can be resolved within 10 business days so that no further communication will be necessary."
Now he claims I'm publishing a work that his business owns the copyright to. I've searched the US Copyright Office website for this work, there are 7 records. A few are spinoffs, one is for an 1982 edition (125th anniversary edition), one is for a 1991 edition (16th edition). There are no records with this person's name, his company's name, or the name of the university where his site started as a graduate project. The edition he publishes on his site is listed as 10th edition and was published in 1919 - there are no currently copyright records on file for the 10th edition, its in the public domain.
Now this book is a compilation of quotes. Our two websites are the only two that have this quotation database. He claims I copied it from him. Even if I did pursuant to Title 17, Section 102 Paragraph B, he has no claims on the actual text does he not? Only on his formatting or presentation of the text?
Incidentially we format and present our versions differently. First of all I only have 8000 some quotes in my database, he has over 10,000. Second of all I format my quotes different than his, he allows people to browse through them, I do not, he includes line numbers and foot notes, I do not. The only thing our sites have in common is the actual text, and the actual text is in the public domain.
However the cofounder of this website is a corporate lawyer. I think they may just want to sue me because I compete with them. I'm a poor college student, I can't afford to go to their district and hire a lawyer and fight them, yet my site is pretty popular and is probably huting their bottom line (that and the fallen ad market). They're looking for revenue and they're looking at me.
If they do sue me is there anything I can do about it? They have no grounds to sue me for infringing the copyright of something that they do not own, and furthermore they are not the author of this work so even if they did own the copyright to it unless it is registered then only the author can file an infringement claim (correct?).
I feel like I'm being muscled here and thats just not fair.
I've also heard something about "work product theft" but a search on Google turned up no information.
Any help would be appreciated.
I'm in Michigan, they are in New York.
Answer:
If the dispute continues, you'll need counsel. Your situation is too complex to be solved on this website.
Answer:
I am not an attorney, and your case very well may be too complex
to solve on this website; however, it does not appear to be too
complex to be discussed.
Here is a quote from a book titled "Getting Permission: How to
License & Clear Copyrighted Materials Online & Off", authored
by Attorney Richard Stim, and published by Nolo. Nolo's web
site URL is
page 8/3
"Copyright has expired for all works published in the United
States before 1923."
If all of the quotes on your website are from any editions prior to
1923, your case becomes less complex; however, it is unclear
as to how the quotes were placed onto your web site; i.e.,
were they manually typed in? were they copied from another
web site? etc?
If all of the quotes on your website were manually entered or
copied (scanned/OCR) from an original/duplicate copy of any
editions prior to 1923, your case becomes less complex. If you
copied the quotes from another website, and their arrangement
is identical to an original copy of any editions prior to 1923,
your case becomes less complex because (1) it will be more
difficult for them to prove infringement, and (2) the arrangement
as well as the contents have expired and are in public domain.
If you in fact did copy another arrangement, where the courts
may possibly rule their arrangement is copyrightable (thus you
may not be allowed to copy and rearrange the contents), you
can:
(1) go through the expense of hiring an attorney to get an
opinion as to whether or not you are possibly guilty of
infringement, or (2) you can temporarily deactivate your web
site (or that specific book) until (a) you are able to obtain an
original/duplicate of any editions prior to 1923, and (b) you are
able to manually enter all of the quotations, or scan and convert
the quotations via OCR software, or copy from a CD, web site, etc
where the arrangement of the quotations are identical to any
editions prior to 1923.
Here are some other relevant quotes from the same book as
above:
page 8/3
"Thousands of works published in the United States before
1964 fell into the public domain because the copyright was not
timely renewed under the law in effect at that time. If a work
was first published before 1964, the owner had to file a renewal
with the Copyright Office during the 28th year after publication.
No renewal meant a loss of copyright.
If you plan on using a work that was published after 1922, but
before 1964, you should research the records of the Copyright
Office to find if a renewal was filed. Chapter 13 describes methods
of researching copyright status.
page 8/8
"Often an author creates a work by selecting various public domain
components and grouping them together. If the selection,
coordination and arrangement of the material is unique it will be
protected as a copyrightable compilation.
Again, I am not an attorney, and an attorney is better qualified
to advise you because of training, experience, access to case
histories, etc.
Answer:
fyi - I have read where some factual compilation companies, such
as telephone directories, impregnate their compilations with
information to assist them in determining if their compilations
have been copied; e.g., fictitious names in the directory, misspelled
names/words, etc.
------
This is not directly related to your problem, but you may be
interested in the following article, which discusses efforts to
create a nonprofit conservancy to help writers and musicians
place their works in the public domain: