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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 1542617" data-attributes="member: 2013">Problem is, there's nothing that explicitly states I *don't* either... that's one of the tricky things about Fair Use - intent plays a huge part of it, and another part of it is interpretation.IANAL, but I think that the problem is simply that technology hasn't gotten a good way to reproduce books yet.  But I personally see very little difference between scanning a book THAT YOU OWN into your computer for personal use versus ripping the contents of a CD and storing them as MP3s on your computer - all this amounts to is "format shifting" or "space shifting."  The legal precedent set in RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia ( <a href="http://www.gigalaw.com/library/riaa-diamond-1999-06-15.html" target="_blank">http://www.gigalaw.com/library/riaa-diamond-1999-06-15.html</a> ) is that format shifting IS permissible as an application of Fair Use.  As I mentioned, while technology for converting "copyrighted contents of book" to "computer file" is not as easily utilized as the technology for converting "copyrighted contents of CD" to "computer file," I do think that the precedent set here is that you CAN legally scan a book you own into a computer-readable file for personal use... after all, in both cases, all you're doing is format-shifting copyrighted material for personal use.IANAL, but there doesn't seem to me to be any difference - the only difference is in the medium that stores the copyrighted material in the first instance, but the net effect - format shifting of copyrighted material - is the same.It should be noted that Fair Use is not some "neatly defined" set of "here's what you can do and nothing else" but rather a nebulous concept that takes into account at least the following factors (though this is an exemplary, not an exhaustive list):(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.I have to believe that scanning a book into your computer for personal use meets the fair use criteria in that doing so does nothing to harm the potential market for or value of the work (#4 above) since in order to scan a book you own, you have to have paid for it in the first place, thus meaning the scan will have no effect upon the potential market or value of the book.Just some thoughts.  It's not explicitly legal, but it's not explicitly ILLEGAL either... and given legal precendents, I would have to say odds are that if it came up in court, it would be legal.  But again, IANAL and TINLA.--The Sigil</blockquote>

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