HP Books in text files - useful for fans

[Mauricio Drelichman]

No: HPFGUIDX 9511

Penny wrote:

> Or, are you asking if it's copyright violation to have & use an 
unauthorized,
> unpaid-for electronic version as long as you also have the hard 
copies of those
> books sitting on your desk?  I don't think owning the books 
outright undoes the
> copyright harm of the unauthorized electronic version, but I 
could be wrong.

Disclaimer: I'm not an attorney, I have not studied copyright law, 
and all that follows is my strictly personal opinion.

I think hat having an electronic version on your hard drive, *if you 
actually own the books and have them with you*, is not a 
copyright violation. It's the same as making a photocopy of the 
book to scribble your notes on it, as I do with my textbooks, which 
I like to keep unmarked. Who actually produces the electronic 
version is irrelevant. Think of it this way: would it be  a copyright 
infringemet to scan your own copy of HP and store it in your hard 
drive, using it every now and then to quickly find this or that 
passage? If not, what's the difference with a downloaded copy?

An analogy to this problem is the mp3.com system, that allows 
you to store on-line versions of the songs you actually own in 
mp3 format. With CDs enforcement is easier, because they have 
an unique identification number that your CD-ROM drive can 
read and send to the web-site. Another analogy is with software 
copyright; you are allowed to backup all the software you own 
and even install it on as many computers as you want, provided 
you use only one copy at a time.

What is illegal in this case is to freely distribute the electronic 
version without checking that whoever downloads it owns the 
copyright. Of course, downloading it without owning the copyright 
is also illegal.

Waht we are seeing is yet another convolution in the tense 
interaction of technology and copyright law, where many issues 
are still undefined. Whoever posted that electronic version 
incurred in blatant copyright violation; but I don't think that 
whoever downloaded, if he/she owns the books, incurred in 
nearly as serious a crime, if any.

All this, of course, IMHO.

Mauricio