Weeding out Project Gutenberg copyrighted works

[ldang]

The fine print in the Project Gutenberg license mentions that while most of their works are in the public domain, there are some copyrighted works that were contributed to Project Gutenberg by the original author. Project Gutenberg has the right to distribute these works, but that doesn't mean we do. http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:The_Project_Gutenberg_License#Copyrighted_Books

They also mention that while the catalog will say whether something is in the public domain, it's also sometimes wrong. They recommend looking inside the file itself for copyright status and information about whether it is okay to distribute.

Examples:

Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling is a copyrighted work, but there does not seem to be any restrictions on distributing it. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/101/pg101.txt

La Celestina is a copyrighted work, and there appears to be some restrictions on distributing it: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1619/pg1619.txt

Looking at the catalog, I think there are 934 files that are copyrighted. The catalog is not 100% reliable.

We currently have 41174 Gutenberg texts on zhen. Do we just remove the copyrighted works, or do we check them and remove the ones that we don't have the right to distribute?

[ldang]

Here is another case where permission was explicitly given to Project Gutenberg to distribute a copyrighted work:

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The First Part of King Henry the Sixth http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1100/pg1100.txt

Here are the conditions: This Etext has certain copyright implications you should read!

<<THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE IS COPYRIGHT 1990-1993 BY WORLD LIBRARY, INC., AND IS PROVIDED BY PROJECT GUTENBERG WITH PERMISSION. ELECTRONIC AND MACHINE READABLE COPIES MAY BE DISTRIBUTED SO LONG AS SUCH COPIES (1) ARE FOR YOUR OR OTHERS PERSONAL USE ONLY, AND (2) ARE NOT DISTRIBUTED OR USED COMMERCIALLY. PROHIBITED COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION INCLUDES BY ANY SERVICE THAT CHARGES FOR DOWNLOAD TIME OR FOR MEMBERSHIP.>>

Project Gutenberg is proud to cooperate with The World Library in the presentation of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare for your reading for education and entertainment. HOWEVER, THIS IS NEITHER SHAREWARE NOR PUBLIC DOMAIN. . .AND UNDER THE LIBRARY OF THE FUTURE CONDITIONS OF THIS PRESENTATION. . .NO CHARGES MAY BE MADE FOR ANY ACCESS TO THIS MATERIAL. YOU ARE ENCOURAGED!! TO GIVE IT AWAY TO ANYONE YOU LIKE, BUT NO CHARGES ARE ALLOWED!!

[jasco]

I did not realize that some of the books were not in the public domain. This seems to raise a question about IIAB's standard for acceptance.

It looks to me like we comply with the two terms of distribution Henry the Sixth. Is IIAB taking a stricter policy of only distributing unencumbered works? GPL could be seen as similarly onerous in that under its copyright it dictates terms of distribution.

If your point is that it calls out Project Gutenberg, it seem to me to be a statement of fact rather than a restriction. The addendum stating that it can be redistributed without charge seems to support that. In any event, I wonder whether, since we distribute the Project Gutenberg works basically intact, whether it would still be considered Project Gutenberg. The distribution Project Gutenberg might arguably be distinct from the legal entity Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.

On Sat, Jul 13, 2013 at 10:53 PM, ldang notifications@github.com wrote:

Here is another case where permission was explicitly given to Project Gutenberg to distribute a copyrighted work:

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The First Part of King Henry the Sixth http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1100/pg1100.txt

Here are the conditions: This Etext has certain copyright implications you should read!

< SHAKESPEARE IS COPYRIGHT 1990-1993 BY WORLD LIBRARY, INC., AND IS PROVIDED BY PROJECT GUTENBERG WITH PERMISSION. ELECTRONIC AND MACHINE READABLE COPIES MAY BE DISTRIBUTED SO LONG AS SUCH COPIES (1) ARE FOR YOUR OR OTHERS PERSONAL USE ONLY, AND (2) ARE NOT DISTRIBUTED OR USED COMMERCIALLY. PROHIBITED COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION INCLUDES BY ANY SERVICE THAT CHARGES FOR DOWNLOAD TIME OR FOR MEMBERSHIP.>>

Project Gutenberg is proud to cooperate with The World Library in the presentation of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare for your reading for education and entertainment. HOWEVER, THIS IS NEITHER SHAREWARE NOR PUBLIC DOMAIN. . .AND UNDER THE LIBRARY OF THE FUTURE CONDITIONS OF THIS PRESENTATION. . .NO CHARGES MAY BE MADE FOR ANY ACCESS TO THIS MATERIAL. YOU ARE ENCOURAGED!! TO GIVE IT AWAY TO ANYONE YOU LIKE, BUT NO CHARGES ARE ALLOWED!!

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/braddockcg/internet-in-a-box/issues/73#issuecomment-20932123 .

[braddockcg]

Hi Lan, I think we can just leave it with a remark in our license file that "Licensing terms and copyright for individual Project Gutenberg Books varies and is specified in the preamble of the specific text".