Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

nutcroft.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 27 posts

Re: Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

#11

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

acabal wrote: post #7
NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #5

I don't believe it is possible under US law to "relinquish all copyrights". Merely asserting something is in the public domain does not make it so. For instance, I could write a book today and do so... and people are probably safe to do what they want with it. Then tomorrow, when I croak, my family still retains copyright for the next 95 years. They might decide that this is their golden ticket, and everyone who cont…

This is what the CC0 license is for: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license#Zero_...

That doesn't make it public domain. It's not just loosey-goosey term without meaning.

Failure to understand the details brings misery.

Re: Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

#13

Post by mod50ack »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #5

I don't believe it is possible under US law to "relinquish all copyrights". Merely asserting something is in the public domain does not make it so. For instance, I could write a book today and do so... and people are probably safe to do what they want with it. Then tomorrow, when I croak, my family still retains copyright for the next 95 years. They might decide that this is their golden ticket, and everyone who cont…

Nope, you're incorrect. It is certainly possible in the United States to put something in the public domain by dedication. It may not be possible in some other countries, but in the US, case law supports the right to dedicate something to the public domain.

The CC-Zero waiver is a dedication to the public domain combined with a fallback provision.

> For instance, I could write a book today and do so... and people are probably safe to do what they want with it. Then tomorrow, when I croak, my family still retains copyright for the next 95 years. They might decide that this is their golden ticket, and everyone who continues to publish it would be in trouble (past actions shouldn't be sanctionable... while alive, I essentially gave license to do so).

If you did not grant an actual license with specific terms, then your reusers are SOL. If you did grant a license with specific terms, then your heirs still have to honor those terms. If you dedicated the work to the public domain, then the work is not copyrighted and your heirs can't do anything about it.

Also, copyrights for works created in 1978 or later are not publication+95 (except for works for hire), but life+70.

> Even if something is legitimately within the public domain, the courts (in the US) have at times decided to yank works out back out and give them as gifts to the various big licensing regimes (ASCAP, if I remember correctly).

The only instance of this happening in the US was the URAA (which was not tied to licensing regimes, but to international pressure to "restore" copyright in works published outside the US which had not complied with the pre-1989 notice requirement). It took an act of Congress, by the way.

Contrast this with the EU's early-1990s 20-year retroactive extension of copyrights.

Re: Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

#14

Post by ThinkBeat »

I like public domain books and how the net makes them more accessible. I have recently come across an annoying and somewhat genuine issue when it comes to translated books.

For example, "Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil." I picked up a PD version and started reading. After 4 pages I gave up. I could not figure out how anyone could find this tolerable, or even a well written book, and for some a classic.

Turns out that there are several translations of the book and not all of them are public domain and for no reason I can think of the PD version is usually the worst translation. There is a quite a bit older translation (so also PD) that is a fairly decent one. (But the English used in it is old fashioned).

Then you have the problem with a lot of books, do you translate it word for word to try and keep the translation as close to the original as possible (good for some studies), or do you write what the translator thinks the author meant.(much more readable)

After spending far too much time reading reviews of translations online, I went to a large bookstore and sampled what they had (far from all). Given that I am fluent in Norwegian and now live in Norway I tried a Norwegian translation and in my opinion it was the best. Norwegian is much closer to German than English which helps the translator. Still billions speak English so one would think the best translation would be in English.

Still some of the magic is missing.

Nietzsche when read in German has a certain rhythm to it. I speak a tiny bit of German and reading (with assistance) the first few pages allowed me to see it.

Reading the whole thing in German would take me years. I stick with the Norwegian one.

I want to read some of the great Russian authors next and I am not looking forward to trying to learn what the best translations are and if its better in English or Norwegian.

Re: Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

#15

Post by stavros »

fernly wrote: post #10

There are vast quantities of public domain books freely available online, Gutenberg.org, Archive.org, standardebooks.org to name three. The latter in particular emphasizes careful production and proper editing, in effect republishing old books in modern editions, but not on paper. I guess I can see how a person might want to promote some old book whose present-day relevance is being overlooked, but the utility of act…

I think the intention is to get you to write your new book in the public domain, not to print old books.

Re: Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

#16

Post by zvr »

cockatoo531 wrote: post #3

"Intellectual property doesn’t make sense. What makes sense is to stop trying to limit ideas about ideas." IP only protects the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. Fundamental difference.

Copyright protects the expression of ideas; patents protect ideas. They are both instruments for IP protection.

Re: Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

#17

Post by tgv »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #14

I like public domain books and how the net makes them more accessible. I have recently come across an annoying and somewhat genuine issue when it comes to translated books. For example, "Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil." I picked up a PD version and started reading. After 4 pages I gave up. I could not figure out how anyone could find this tolerable, or even a well written book, and for some a classic. Turns out that…

When I was learning Spanish, I read LOTR in translation. That was some of the worst prose I've ever read. Tolkien wasn't a great writer, but that really took the life out of the books.

Look at Bible translations: there's a new one for every generation, even though it looses the (IMO) very important aspect of tradition. Translations age, some quite badly. Chances are, your Nietschze translation was written for an audience with a rather different language use. That might be the reason why the PD translations are so stiff.

There are also literary choices: do you want to stay as close to the original text as possible, or do you want to convey to a modern audience the impression the text might have made on its audience 150 years ago?

Re: Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

#18

Post by rpdillon »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #5

I don't believe it is possible under US law to "relinquish all copyrights". Merely asserting something is in the public domain does not make it so. For instance, I could write a book today and do so... and people are probably safe to do what they want with it. Then tomorrow, when I croak, my family still retains copyright for the next 95 years. They might decide that this is their golden ticket, and everyone who cont…

Sqlite is a good counterexample.

https://www.sqlite.org/copyright.html

Re: Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

#19

Post by weregiraffe »

tgv wrote: post #17
ThinkBeat wrote: post #14

I like public domain books and how the net makes them more accessible. I have recently come across an annoying and somewhat genuine issue when it comes to translated books. For example, "Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil." I picked up a PD version and started reading. After 4 pages I gave up. I could not figure out how anyone could find this tolerable, or even a well written book, and for some a classic. Turns out that…

When I was learning Spanish, I read LOTR in translation. That was some of the worst prose I've ever read. Tolkien wasn't a great writer, but that really took the life out of the books. Look at Bible translations: there's a new one for every generation, even though it looses the (IMO) very important aspect of tradition. Translations age, some quite badly. Chances are, your Nietschze translation was written for an audi…

>Tolkien wasn't a great writer

These are fighting words, pal.

Re: Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone

#20

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

mod50ack wrote: post #13
NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #5

I don't believe it is possible under US law to "relinquish all copyrights". Merely asserting something is in the public domain does not make it so. For instance, I could write a book today and do so... and people are probably safe to do what they want with it. Then tomorrow, when I croak, my family still retains copyright for the next 95 years. They might decide that this is their golden ticket, and everyone who cont…

Nope, you're incorrect. It is certainly possible in the United States to put something in the public domain by dedication. It may not be possible in some other countries, but in the US, case law supports the right to dedicate something to the public domain. The CC-Zero waiver is a dedication to the public domain combined with a fallback provision. > For instance, I could write a book today and do so... and people are…

> If you did not grant an actual license with specific terms,

If I did, then it is licensed, and not in the public domain.

> If you did grant a license with specific terms, then your heirs still have to honor those terms.

For those who licensed it prior to my death.

For anyone coming upon the work afterwards, they no longer have the option of licensing it.

> It took an act of Congress, by the way.

All it took was the ruling of a district judge.

Post reply on HN