PDF Book Printing/Binding

[CleverNickName]

BTW, if you bought something in PDF form only, you are legally entitled to one print copy for your own purpose (but I'm not a lawyer and print shops have the right to refuse printing if they have copyright concerns).

Do you happen to have a link to this information? I'd like to print it out and take it in to Kinko's with me, so that they have some sort of release of liability. It's not that they don't want to help; they just feel like their hands are tied.

 

[EP]

Do you happen to have a link to this information? I'd like to print it out and take it in to Kinko's with me, so that they have some sort of release of liability. It's not that they don't want to help; they just feel like their hands are tied.

Not really. This is just from some random legal sources and a quick seminar on copyright issues in school (and I'm from Canada - we're a bit more lenient on these things). When it comes down to it, unless you have something in writing from the copyright owner, they will probably still say no.

 

[GMSkarka]

You're talking about wanting print copies of the PDFs you've purchased from a company (in other words, not PDFs you've produced yourself), so you don't have the right to produce a print copy. (Hence the term "copyright")

The simplest way to get what you're looking for -- and one that most PDF publishers would be happy to do for you -- is to simply fire off an email to the publisher, and ask them to produce a print copy for you. The publisher produces a copy (via Lulu or Amazon's Createspace or similar services), and it gets sent to you from the printer. Expect to pay production costs, shipping & handling, and maybe a small percentage for the publisher for the service.

Seriously -- ask. The publisher is the copyright holder, and we're all more than willing to provide stuff that our customers want.....

 

[Aus_Snow]

I've tried to use Kinko's for printing and binding, but they wouldn't do it. They said it was against company policy to make copies of copyrighted material. Has anyone else run into this problem? How did you get around it?

Yes, I had that problem. Not with exactly the same company, but one very similar, it seems.

I went elsewhere. Another local place, but one that focuses more on selling big laser printers and stuff to businesses, as it happens. Anyway, it turns out that they know more about printing and binding etc., than [those other guys] do anyway! Oh, and they charge less, as a rule. And never ask about the owenership, copyright or whatever.

It all worked out pretty well, I thought.

 

[justanobody]

Doesn't LuLu have huge shipping costs or something unless you sell only digital copies?

 

[Tetsubo]

Use their online service. I was expecting a problem but ended up not having one. - https://printonline.fedexkinkos.com/

I tried that. They called me and told me that they wouldn't print what I wanted because it was copyrighted material. It was a legally free PDF given to the world by the author. Kinkos wants a bloody Papal Bull before they will print anything.

Go find a small local shop.

 

[Qwillion]

No, Lulu does not have huge shipping costs, you get a choice of your shipping, I have not seen anything excessive as all of our products are available via LULU, and have not had any complaints from our customers.

 

[davethegame]

I've tried to use Kinko's for printing and binding, but they wouldn't do it. They said it was against company policy to make copies of copyrighted material. Has anyone else run into this problem? How did you get around it?

I was a manager at Kinko's for about a year. If they say that, ask for a Copyright Release form, which is a waiver that you can sign saying you have permission to duplicate it.

Employees get to be in the fun position of having to be copyright cops, else the company gets sued for many thousands of dollars (happened at the shop I worked at for something fairly inoccuous). So either they end up being too strict and getting guff from customers, or too lenient and getting in trouble with the bosses.

 

[CleverNickName]

I was a manager at Kinko's for about a year. If they say that, ask for a Copyright Release form, which is a waiver that you can sign saying you have permission to duplicate it.

Employees get to be in the fun position of having to be copyright cops, else the company gets sued for many thousands of dollars (happened at the shop I worked at for something fairly inoccuous). So either they end up being too strict and getting guff from customers, or too lenient and getting in trouble with the bosses.

Thanks for the advice! I will do exactly that, when I go back into Kinko's this weekend.

+1 XP for the brilliant tip!