How to Reassess you chess 4th edition PGN

Don't forget to charge us 10 bucks for using yor work!

We have a club discussing this book, same edition. You have to consider the problems with copyright if you make the download available to everybody. For this reason I don't post any diagram. I usually find the game in internet and follow the game there, discussing the positions in the club. 

Here our club:  https://www.chess.com/club/how-to-reassess-your-chess-fourth-edition

We are still discussing diagram 19. You are welcome if you want to participate.

Stealing? yeah right I paid for the book and proper citations are given. More like enhancing.  As stated earlier he should have included this.  If anything it will boost sales. 

I doubt there is any copyright infringement as the work in the book is cited and not being claimed by myself or Miguel.  You still need the book to know what any of the diagrams means.  This is fair use and the digital format helps improve his product.  I reached out to Mr. Silman and him sent him the link to this thread.

This is good. In our group we also discuss the diagrams, but most of us our go to chessgames to see  the game, or use a physical board. But your solutions is better, of course. You are doing right to contact him. Cheers.

I contacted him when I 1st started and I also contacted him when Miguel gave me the file. No response.

Okay. What I know about copyright issues related to chess books is that even only using diagrams (without using text) of a book is already a copyright infringement. An author made a choice from positions to be discussed in his book, and as soon as somebody use the same choice he can already have problems. On the other hand it can be that Silman might be even happy that you do this job, as - as you said - people need his book to understand and work with the position. I don't know, it can be an issue, and but it can also be okay. Did you write to www.silmanjamespress.com  ? Another possibility is to contact chess.com and ask for advice, just to be sure. 

MrStryker has much more patience than I do.  I wouldn't be going back and forward with anyone that doesn't appreciate that the pgns have been made available.  I hope that anyone that think there is any kind of issue with the pgns being made available take the moral stance of refusing to download them and continue to search for each diagram online or use a physical board.  Good luck!  Similar circumstances almost made me not want to share the files in the first place.

So can a chess position be copyrighted? Doesnt seem logical to me

In that case Id like to copyright 1..e4!

dangerdog123, Black can't move to e4 on their first move.  I think you mean 1. e4 and not 1..e4.

Lol good catch. I wanted to edit my post after thinking that it actually is the notation for black, but didnt bother. Anyway nobody is allowed to duplicate 1. e4 from now on in either book or physical form please, it is my copyrighted postition for my use only. Many thanks! (just kidding)

I think you misunderstood me: not a position, but a choice of different positions, and not a line from an opening, this is not copyrighted (but you will have problems if you take all the lines recommended by Larry Kaufman and tell everybody this is a new book; its not).

This topic was often discussed and all authors agree about this. If you write a book on tactics and use 30 different positions from new games published by a certain author, and do the same with 300 authors, you will have a wonderful book on tactics, but all the 30 authors will claim that you are stealing from their work.

You should make your own choice of positions, and then you are on the safe site. Or you take only few positions from a book, I would say 2 or 3, and this is probably also fine. But not more. 

Ok that certainly makes sense from an ethical point of view atleast.  I think using the diagrams without buying the book (as all of us probably did here anyway) would however not be very useful as you are going to miss out on all the explanations that are given. Then it would be just as well to put the position on the board and use a chess engine. However if the purpose is just to make it easier to use the book (which you have bought already) then there is nothing wrong with that intent, imho. But not a legal expert and law might vary in every country anyway.

There is a difference if somebody make the diagrams to use them privately or to use them in a public forum. But I am not a specialist either.

In any case I would also like to have the diagrams.

I would say if Mr. Silman wants to file a lawsuit against Miguel and I go right ahead.  I'm not making any money off of this and neither is Miguel. Judge, "So you improved his product and didn't ask for compensation?"  Me and Miguel, "yes your honor."  Judge, "So what's the problem? case dismissed!"

Mr. Silman probably realizes that the sales of the book wouldn't be hurt by this (and maybe increase, as others have opined), which I suspect may be one reason why nobody gets a response from him.