[Upd-discuss] Google public domain library?

[Greg Newby]

On Mon, Dec 20, 2004 at 05:56:22AM -0500, Richard Stallman wrote:
>     Is is possible there is a negative "not" missing in the first para below?
> 
> If you're talking about this,
> 
>     >> Richard Stallman wrote:
>     >>> Under US copyright law, converting the work to a different medium
>     >>> creates a new copyright.  So scanned files made from a public-domain
>     >>> book would not themselves be in the public domain.
> 
> nothing was missing.  It says what it is supposed to say.

I'm just writing to point out that the legal advice
Richard mentions disagrees with the legal advice
Project Gutenberg has received (as described earlier
in this thread).

While I'm not a lawyer, at least four different
lawyers with expertise in intellectual property
and copyright issues vetted the opinions that I sent,
and Project Gutenberg uses those guidelines in our
day to day operation.  

It's not unusual for there to be varying legal opinions,
and this type of issue has not reached the courts
(that I am aware of).  'Nuff said.
  -- Greg