3 ms·
Ask HN: Can I Re-Share Open Source ebook from my portal?
Hello,
I run a portal/startup called DocsTub (https://www.docstub.com/). A portal where anyone can share documents and earn money.
Since we have just started one of team mate suggested to expand reach include Open Source Books into the platform.
And we want to do it legally. So wanted to know can this be done? Is it legal to reshare open source ebooks?
And best source to find open source ebooks?
Thanks,
Vivek
- r3bl 10y agoIn almost 100% of the cases, the answer is "yes". However, depending on the license of the books, you will probably need to indicate the original author of the book, link to the original book location, and add a note that it was released under the XX license (this is true for every CC-licensed book). The biggest resource of open source books is, I would say, GitBook: https://www.gitbook.com/explore https://www.gitbook.com/explore Now, since this is a startup, I would be careful about non-commercial CC-licensed books (they have NC in the name of the license). If that's the case, you are kind of making money out of distributing them, so I would be careful about including them and discuss about including them with a lawyer. If they don't have NC in the name of the license, you're good to go.
- techaddict009 10y agoI found project gutenber (http://www.gutenberg.org/ http://www.gutenberg.org/) which has around 53K books and they have this license: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html Which allows commercial use. What do you say in this case?