3 ms·

Anyone is perfectly free to charge for content that is in the public domain. Getty still provides a service. For example the ability to search, preview, or down

Anyone is perfectly free to charge for content that is in the public domain. Getty still provides a service. For example the ability to search, preview, or download images. Bandwidth does still have a cost. Of course it's also fine for someone to use Getty to locate a public domain image, and then acquire it for free from another source. Getty sending copyright notices on works they know (or should know) to be in the public domain is a real problem. Ulysses is in the public domain. You can buy it for $2. https://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Wordsworth-Classics-James-Joyce/dp/1840226358 https://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Wordsworth-Classics-James-Joy...

dublinben 10y ago
That $2 pays for the physical paper copy of the book. You aren't buying a license though, because they can't legally sell you one. It's pretty clear here that Getty was selling something (licenses) they had no right to sell. Trying to enforce these fraudulent "licenses" was just the icing on the cake.
- colomon 10y ago
  The Kindle edition is 99 cents.
  - wvenable 10y ago
    This misses the point. If you have the public domain ebook already, Amazon isn't knocking on your door asking for their cut. Getty literally told the photographer she had to pay a license for her own work posted on her website. She didn't acquire it from Getty. You can acquire a public domain ebook from somewhere else for free or you can pay 99c to acquire it from Amazon. But either way, you're not paying for a license to copy it.
    - 6stringmerc 10y ago
      That's the rub in this case it seems, that if Getty never took this action against the creator herself, who understood the situation and, I'm not sure they'd run into much stink about selling Public Domain images as a business component (they provide a service). Her catching them in the act is stunning.
  - frobozz 10y ago
    This Kindle edition is free: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4300.kindle.images http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4300.kindle.images I assume that the 99c one comes with some feature other than the text - e.g. convenience, formatting, something else. The 99c is not a licence fee for the text of Ulysses, and if Amazon tried to sue me for having the Gutenberg version on my Kindle, they would get the Arkell v. Pressdram response.

dublinben 10y ago

That $2 pays for the physical paper copy of the book. You aren't buying a license though, because they can't legally sell you one. It's pretty clear here that Getty was selling something (licenses) they had no right to sell. Trying to enforce these fraudulent "licenses" was just the icing on the cake.

colomon 10y ago
The Kindle edition is 99 cents.
- wvenable 10y ago
  This misses the point. If you have the public domain ebook already, Amazon isn't knocking on your door asking for their cut. Getty literally told the photographer she had to pay a license for her own work posted on her website. She didn't acquire it from Getty. You can acquire a public domain ebook from somewhere else for free or you can pay 99c to acquire it from Amazon. But either way, you're not paying for a license to copy it.
  - 6stringmerc 10y ago
    That's the rub in this case it seems, that if Getty never took this action against the creator herself, who understood the situation and, I'm not sure they'd run into much stink about selling Public Domain images as a business component (they provide a service). Her catching them in the act is stunning.
- frobozz 10y ago
  This Kindle edition is free: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4300.kindle.images http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4300.kindle.images I assume that the 99c one comes with some feature other than the text - e.g. convenience, formatting, something else. The 99c is not a licence fee for the text of Ulysses, and if Amazon tried to sue me for having the Gutenberg version on my Kindle, they would get the Arkell v. Pressdram response.