Legality Question

[jaerdaph]

(Edit: Never mind - time to get new glasses!)

 

[EricNoah]

It would probably be legal for you to *make* a PDF copy of whatever printed materials you have. It probably would not be legal for you to distribute such a copy. It also probably would not be legal for you to download a PDF copy from someone else (since the other person is distributing an illegal copy, which means you are receiving an illegal copy).

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I agree with BardStephenFox that you should try to contact either FFG or wherever you bought the book. My copy of Midnight also had a bad binding and I got mine replaced. No problems actually, just returned the bad one, and picked up a new one a week later or so from my local RPG shop.

Got mine from Amazon so a bit more of a hassle for me. I'm already dealing with Buy.com regarding a book I bought from them and they sent me the wrong book. I have to wait for them to process my claim (up to 3 weeks) before they'll give me an RMA to send the book back to them (another week). Once they receive it I guess that it'll take a while for them to acknowledge that they received it (yet another week) and then they'll send me my book (yet one more week). Returning it to the retailer really isn't an option in that case. I'll probably return it to FFG.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I just can't believe that it is illegal even when you've paid for the content. Copyright governs intellectual property (or so I've been led to believe). The copyright isn't on the paper... it is on what is written. I've paid for what is written so no matter how I get or use that property shouldn't matter.

ARRRRGGGHHH!!! Wait till I'm president, I'll turn everything upside down!!!

 

[nikolai]

The legal status of peer-to-peer file-sharing depends on your locality, no-one knows this (apart from you) so it's hard to comment. There may also be uncertainly as to it's status in a given area. For example there's just been a ruling that music downloading in Canada does not break the local laws.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1185973,00.html

Though your concern as to the legal status of downloading the pdf is exemplary, FFG are unlikely to come after you if you do so.

It also probably would not be legal for you to download a PDF copy from someone else (since the other person is distributing an illegal copy, which means you are receiving an illegal copy).

This raises a really interesting point, that I hadn't thought of before. As far as I am aware, copyright governs rights over distributing a work. Is there a legal distinction between the act of distributing it and that of receiving it? Is it possible that distributing is illegal, but downloading is not?

 

[Calico_Jack73]

This raises a really interesting point, that I hadn't thought of before. As far as I am aware, copyright governs rights over distributing a work. Is there a legal distinction between the act of distributing it and that of receiving it? Is it possible that distributing is illegal, but downloading is not?

You hit the nail right on the head. Would the RIAA come after someone who downloaded some MP3s and low and behold they own every album that those songs came off of? As long as they weren't distributing the songs I doubt they'd have a case against the person.

 

[drnuncheon]

It isn't just that the book will fall apart but that an electronic copy can actually be more convenient to use.

To be honest, most of the PDF stuff out there that is scanned from books is not worth it - they're just images, not OCR, so you wouldn't get most of the benefit of an electronic format anyway (cut & paste, search).

J

 

[Calico_Jack73]

To be honest, most of the PDF stuff out there that is scanned from books is not worth it - they're just images, not OCR, so you wouldn't get most of the benefit of an electronic format anyway (cut & paste, search).
J

Hmmmm... I'm starting to lean towards sending in my book instead.

 

[jaerdaph]

This raises a really interesting point, that I hadn't thought of before. As far as I am aware, copyright governs rights over distributing a work. Is there a legal distinction between the act of distributing it and that of receiving it? Is it possible that distributing is illegal, but downloading is not?

It is illegal to download copyrighted information from the Internet without the permission of the person owning the copyright. Under federal law, the copyright owner may bring an action in court that may result in civil liability or even criminal prosecution.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Well that just answered it for me...