Show HN: DRM-Free Books • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: DRM-Free Books

#51

Post by dierogeryoung » Wed, Jul 01, 2026, 11:51 AM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #47

bluebarbet wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Ironic that a quirk of modern technology would put classical literature back in fashion.

This happens more than you might expect. There are several films which became popular staples on television after copyright expired, wasn't renewed, or was improperly registered in the first place (prior to automatic copyright assignment enacted in 1976). It's a Wonderful Life is the canonical example, though there is a long list of other public domain films in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_in_t…

[flagged]

Re: Show HN: DRM-Free Books

#52

Post by dredmorbius » Wed, Jul 01, 2026, 11:37 PM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #47

bluebarbet wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Ironic that a quirk of modern technology would put classical literature back in fashion.

This happens more than you might expect. There are several films which became popular staples on television after copyright expired, wasn't renewed, or was improperly registered in the first place (prior to automatic copyright assignment enacted in 1976). It's a Wonderful Life is the canonical example, though there is a long list of other public domain films in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_in_t…

A flagged/dead reply notes a case of an unauthorised remake of a film getting wider distribution.

The original, Skeem, was released in South Africa in 2011. The knock-off, John and John, was released in Ghana in 2017. The latter was unauthorised. The writer, director, and producer of the original, Tim Green, opted not to pursue infringement claims against Kofi Asamoah, who produced John and John, as the cost would not be worth any possible recovery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeem>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_John>

@dierogeryoung: I'm not sure why your comments are flagged/dead, but that's a likely outcome if you're using LLMs to write/edit your HN content, which is suggested by your history. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22336638>, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48136536>, and https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html#generated>.

Re: Show HN: DRM-Free Books

#53

Post by themadturk » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 10:46 PM UTC

mrec wrote: post #33

themadturk wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least some Tor.com ebooks are available DRM-free through Amazon. Honor Of The Queen, 2nd in the Honor Harrington Series, specifically says it's sold without DRM on Amazon.

Huh? The Honor Harrington books are published by Baen (who are all DRM-free).

My mistake!