Copyright works for personal use?

[Regie]

I suppose there is nothing illegal in putting work that is still under copyright into SwordSearcher for personal use - as long as it is not shared. Is that right?

If a person is working on something for their own personal use and there are those who might be interested in the same work in SwordSearcher when the copyright period is over, is it ok to have a special section in this forum for such? I suppose that question is for Brandon.

That could prevent duplicate work among us if any of us live long enough to see some works come off copyright. If we don't, we could leave something worthwhile for our children, etc.

Thanks,
Regie

 

[Brandon Staggs]

If a person is working on something for their own personal use and there are those who might be interested in the same work in SwordSearcher when the copyright period is over, is it ok to have a special section in this forum for such?

Copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 50 or 70 years. That's a long time.

I suppose there is nothing illegal in putting work that is still under copyright into SwordSearcher for personal use - as long as it is not shared. Is that right?

My guess is no, that is not correct. The copyright is inherently the *right to copy*. Congress has carved out some exceptions to this, but the safe bet is to assume you do not have a right to copy a work unless the author has granted it to you. But, I am no lawyer, so you will need to decide how you do that in private.

 

[Regie]

I left off something - if a person owns the book, can they do it for their own use? But, I think that is something between the individual, his conscience and the law.

Thanks much for your gentlemanly, pleasant answer Brandon, But then, I wasn't expecting any other kind of reponse from you. I appreciate you and the work you do in authoring SwordSearcher and keeping it going.

MGB,
Regie

 

[Brandon Staggs]

But, I think that is something between the individual, his conscience and the law.

Agreed.

Thank you for your kind words.

 

[S. Carpenter]

Did I understand this correctly?
That using a work that is copyrighted for personal use is not legal?

 

[Brandon Staggs]

Did I understand this correctly?
That using a work that is copyrighted for personal use is not legal?

That depends entirely on the license of the work and any overriding factors in the law (fair use, etc.). Unfortunately, there is no way to give you a direct, actionable answer, especially since I don't think any of us here are lawyers.

 

[S. Carpenter]

That depends entirely on the license of the work and any overriding factors in the law (fair use, etc.). Unfortunately, there is no way to give you a direct, actionable answer, especially since I don't think any of us here are lawyers.

Thank you.

When I read that first sentence of your answer, I realized how right you are when about 5 differing circumstances crowded into my mind. So, that, added or even multiplied with many possible overriding factors for any given work, does actually make my question, vague as it is (and this is not a legal forum or site) completely unanswerable, because at this point the different scenarios become too many to understand without either a law degree, or a lawyer, or perhaps both. And that is with the entire copyright written out and in front of me.

Though you could not answer my simplistic question with a "yay" or "nay" or even just affirmative or negative even in your response, it made me start thinking. I remember from my years as a typesetter having to perfectly type up those itty-bitty words nobody reads on the back of contracts. You would not believe how different each was, though the goal was always the same: to protect the owner of works, goods, services, company, or other man made creations, etc.

After pondering that, I think I'll choose to err on the side of caution. There is simply too much that can go wrong unless one has every word and letter of the laws pertaining to a specific copyrighted "body" of material however big or small, AND understand it legally as a good lawyer might.

So, you did, actually, answer my question. Thank you very much for being so direct and honest, Mr. Staggs. It made me stop and think and helped me come to a decision.