4 ms·

I'm no legal expert, but I'd guess it's illegal to sell what is in the public domain. Why hasn't anybody done anything?

by pestaa 15y ago

zaphar 15y ago
I am not a lawyer or expert either but I do not believe it is illegal to sell something in the public domain. That's sort of the point of Public Domain. No one can tell you not to sell it.
kotrin 15y ago
We sell water don't we?
- MiguelHudnandez 15y ago
  Exactly, you can charge for providing access to anything, as long as you are not obstructing public property to do so. Even if the works are in the public domain, the copies that you maintain are yours and you can charge for access to those copies.
jemfinch 15y ago
You've really never seen a Dover book? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Books Publishing works that are in the public domain is their bread and butter.
sitkack 15y ago
Don't downvote this question, it is valid.
mtogo 15y ago
I'm not sure if you're joking. I'm going to, for my own sanity, pretend that you are joking.
keeperofdakeys 15y ago
You can sell works in the public domain. Go to your book store, I'm sure you can buy a copy of Frankenstein, which is in the public domain. The whole purpose of public domain is that no one owns the copyright, so there are no restrictions to anyone on what may be done with them. I could publish Frankenstein and sell it to people, but I can't stop other people from selling it. If these documents really are under public domain, then JSTOR can't stop people from distributing the copies obtained from them. However, it is possible for JSTOR to claim copyright on the form of the distributed copies, but not the content (assuming the papers are in the public domain). That is, if they had a JSTOR logo on the papers, or something 'unique', JSTOR may have a basis for claiming copyright infringement. This is assuming they were actually obtained legally, and JSTOR didn't have a strange TOS.
pestaa 15y ago
Kudos for compensation to the downvotes I received. I don't know what happened to the "ask and learn" culture. I am not a native English speaker, and the term public domain was not self-explanatory (rather, it explained itself in the wrong way). In Hungarian, public domain means közkincs, which is roughly equivalent to "treasure of the public". So the question seemed reasonable to ask.

I'm no legal expert, but I'd guess it's illegal to sell what is in the public domain. Why hasn't anybody done anything?

by pestaa 15y ago

I'm no legal expert, but I'd guess it's illegal to sell what is in the public domain. Why hasn't anybody done anything?

I am not a lawyer or expert either but I do not believe it is illegal to sell something in the public domain. That's sort of the point of Public Domain. No one can tell you not to sell it.

kotrin 15y ago

We sell water don't we?

MiguelHudnandez 15y ago
Exactly, you can charge for providing access to anything, as long as you are not obstructing public property to do so. Even if the works are in the public domain, the copies that you maintain are yours and you can charge for access to those copies.

jemfinch 15y ago

You've really never seen a Dover book? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Books Publishing works that are in the public domain is their bread and butter.

sitkack 15y ago

Don't downvote this question, it is valid.

mtogo 15y ago

I'm not sure if you're joking. I'm going to, for my own sanity, pretend that you are joking.

keeperofdakeys 15y ago

You can sell works in the public domain. Go to your book store, I'm sure you can buy a copy of Frankenstein, which is in the public domain. The whole purpose of public domain is that no one owns the copyright, so there are no restrictions to anyone on what may be done with them. I could publish Frankenstein and sell it to people, but I can't stop other people from selling it. If these documents really are under public domain, then JSTOR can't stop people from distributing the copies obtained from them. However, it is possible for JSTOR to claim copyright on the form of the distributed copies, but not the content (assuming the papers are in the public domain). That is, if they had a JSTOR logo on the papers, or something 'unique', JSTOR may have a basis for claiming copyright infringement. This is assuming they were actually obtained legally, and JSTOR didn't have a strange TOS.

pestaa 15y ago

Kudos for compensation to the downvotes I received. I don't know what happened to the "ask and learn" culture. I am not a native English speaker, and the term public domain was not self-explanatory (rather, it explained itself in the wrong way). In Hungarian, public domain means közkincs, which is roughly equivalent to "treasure of the public". So the question seemed reasonable to ask.