Question about Lybrary.com

[Mark Tams]

I have just recently visited the site: Lybrary.com. I guess I'm ignorant on this subject, but I'm trying to understand how this is legal/copacetic/okay to take older books and publish them on the domain and make them available for profit? Are there not copyright infringements that come into play? Someone enlighten me. :)

[Ian Kendall]

The books that Chris has prepared are out of copyright, so there is no legal problem with that. It's the same reason Erdnase has never been out of print.

The newer stuff is sold in agreement with the authors.

Take care, Ian

[John LeBlanc]

You could always visit http://www.copyright.gov/ to understand when a book goes into public domain, and you can also contact Chris directly and ask him about the rest of it. I consider Chris one of the good guys and do business with him.

John
http://www.escamoteurettes.com/blog/

[Mark Tams]

Oh, don't take me the wrong way. I was just curious how that stuff happened. We hear so much about piracy, and I was just curious how this was different. I have full respect for him and this site. Thanks so much!

[John LeBlanc]

Oh, I didn't think you were suggesting anything untoward.

Most US Copyright law is pretty cut and dried. For instance, any work copyrighted prior to January 1, 1923 under US Copyright law is now permanently public domain. This is why you'll find lots of old books being reprinted and sold (not just magic books.)

There are other situations where something was not copyrighted and is not protected at all. There are situations where something was orginally copyrighted and protected, but the copyright was not renewed and has now fallen into public domain.

And then there are plenty of cases where the copyright owner enters into an agreement with someone like Chris, and works that are currently protected are being sold under license or some other agreement.

The flair ups in the world of magic most often occur when a question is asked about ownership and rights, and no adequate answer is forthcoming. Generally, I don't believe the problem is in the asking.

John
http://www.escamoteurettes.com/blog/

[CHRIS]

I just wanted to confirm that Lybrary.com's offering is a mixture of public domain material and licensed material. Recently I have released more licensed material, but everything started with a few really good public domain books. In some cases I even pay royalties although the material is public domain, but there is still a family or relative around which in many cases has in my opinion a moral right to a fair compensation.

A word of caution. In some cases it is very clear if a certain book is in the public domain or not. In other cases it is not clear at all. For example, one edition might be public domain, whereas a different one is not. The various updates to the copyright law have several special cases which can be triggered in different ways. Particularly difficult is the situation if there is a non-US author as co-author for example, a.s.o.

Best,
Chris....

[Chris Aguilar]

Would a first edition of ECT (1940) be considered public domain?

[Richard Kaufman]

Yes, the first edition of Expert Card Technique is public domain. Like almost all of Jean Hugard's books, the copyright was never renewed.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
Yes, the first edition of Expert Card Technique is public domain. Like almost all of Jean Hugard's books, the copyright was never renewed.

I own a copy of the third edition, (Faber and Faber) which has two extra chapters, and I've always wondered why Dover Books reprinted the earlier version. Was there some copyright concern that applied to that, but not earlier one?

[Richard Kaufman]

It's the same as with the two editions of Bobo's Modern Coin Magic. Some idiot told Jay Marshall that if he renewed the copyright on the second edition, that would cover the copyright on the first edition as well. It didn't, and the result is that it fell into public domain. Ditto for Expert Card Technique. First edition published by Carl Jones. He gave it to Hugard, and the third edition was renewed, but never the first. It fell into public domain.