My System: A Chess Manual on Totally New Principles
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"My System" is probably not in the public domain, at least according to the rule of thumb used by librivox.org that anything copyrighted after 1920 in the USA is NOT in the public domain (my copy is copyright 1930 by Harcourt Brace publishers)
So, even if you find a "free" copy of it you're a thief IF you download it, it's exactly the same as stealing a "hardcopy" of the book out of a bookstore but that's up to you of course.
I highly recommend it BTW.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/9197600539/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
Isn't that book originally from 1926 or something? And, at least the original should be in public domain in many jurisdictions.
Anyway, google it -- it's possible to find a pdf version online.
NimzoRoy wrote:
"My System" is probably not in the public domain, at least according to the rule of thumb used by librivox.org that anything copyrighted after 1920 in the USA is NOT in the public domain (my copy is copyright 1930 by Harcourt Brace publishers)
So, even if you find a "free" copy of it you're a thief IF you download it, it's exactly the same as stealing a "hardcopy" of the book out of a bookstore but that's up to you of course.
I highly recommend it BTW.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/9197600539/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
Violating a license agreement is not in anyway the same as stealing a physical object. Anyone who contends it is fails to grasp copyright law at a very fundamental level.
That said, it is illegal (whatever one's feelings are about exactly how the perpetual copyright in the USA relates to the constitutional provision of limited copyright) and if you are caught doing it, you will be liable to some very significant fines and possibly jail time.
Indeed, here's where things get quite funky. If you steal a book from the bookstore and get caught, you'll have to pay a small fine for a low level misdemeanor. It is highly unlikely you'll do jail time, even though you have deprived another party of their physical property and thus done measurable harm to them. If you pirate a PDF of that same book, you're liable to up to $100,000 in federal fines, 5 years in a federal cell, and possible additional civil penalties -- even though pirating a PDF does no measurable harm to anyone as you are not denying anyone access to their property.
But that's the law in this day and age, and it's just easier to not be stupid without compelling reason.
Violating a license agreement is not in anyway the same as stealing a physical object. Anyone who contends it is fails to grasp copyright law at a very fundamental level. Kingpatzer
Sorry I was speaking, or rather writing since we need to be precise here, ethically not legally. All your info about pirating is quite interesting though - who knew? BTW is there a "perpetual copyright law" you can cite in the US (or were you being facetious)? I thought there were limits albeit very long ones on how long a copyright is good for.
And I guess I'm just dense - but doesn't pirating a PDF file (or any other software) deprive someone of their royalties, not to mention the publisher of their profits?
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NimzoRoy wrote:
Violating a license agreement is not in anyway the same as stealing a physical object. Anyone who contends it is fails to grasp copyright law at a very fundamental level. Kingpatzer
Sorry I was speaking, or rather writing since we need to be precise here, ethically not legally. All your info about pirating is quite interesting though - who knew? BTW is there a "perpetual copyright law" you can cite in the US (or were you being facetious)? I thought there were limits albeit very long ones on how long a copyright is good for.
And I guess I'm just dense - but doesn't pirating a PDF file (or any other software) deprive someone of their royalties, not to mention the publisher of their profits?
The presumption is that the pirate would buy a NEW copy of the book legally. That of course is a pretty far reaching assumption that study after study has shown isn't a particularly good assumption.
Even if the pirate would buy a copy of the book, the copyright holder will only get royalties if it is a new copy of the book. A used copy generates no royalties.
And the way the copyright rules are written, there is effectively perpetual copyright. I figure if something written before my parents was born is still copyrighted, and is expected to remain copyrighted after I should be dead based on average life expectancy, that we are talking about what is an effective perpetual copyright.
Unlike Disney, who was able to take popular works and rework them after they became public domain in order to become quite wealthy, I may not do that -- because anything that was popular will remain in copyright for my entire life. That's effectively perpetual in my book.