[RickJ]

I have all issues of a magazine, and have indexed all of it's articles. May I offer as a service (of course charge a bit) the copying and sending of individual articles? Can anyone recommend a website/webpage that explains it clearly?

Thanks!

[excon]

Hello Rick:

I was waiting for somebody who knew more than me. Nobody showed up...

I think it's going to boil down to a question of, are you selling "copies" or are you selling "copywrited material". Certainly, you'd argue that you're only providing a service duplicating what your customers themselves could duplicate if they only would.

However, the owner of the copywrited material would argue that you're selling HIS material, and that you can't or that you'll owe fees if you do.

I don't know who would win that one. I think you could consult with a copyright attorney for a minimal amount.

excon

[RickJ]

I'm thinking same as you. Folks could get this at their local library, - and for a fee use the copy machine and copy it... I'm I'm just offering the service of copying and sending. I've scrounged the www to no avail. I'll keep hunting - and check with friends of friends to see if I can get more specific info from a copyright atty.

[Curlyben]

I think it depends on the type of copyright.
Some allow for copying and limited distribution, where as others are a lot stricter.

It might be worth a quick e-mail to the magazines publisher and ask.
Never hurts, after all the worst they can say is no.

[RickJ]

Haha, but of course I'm afraid of asking as if they are real sticklers then I don't want to bring attention to myself ;)

... I know too well that anyone can be sued for anything, regardless of the merit of the claim :o

[froggy7]

From my viewpoint, you'd be in serious trouble if anyone found out about it. It does depend on the magazine, to an extent. I know that the trade journals I get have a standard disclaimer on each page saying that copying the articles is illegal (even for personal use, or to make an office copy) without prior permission, and that they will give you 5K if you turn in someone doing so and it is prosecuted in court.

A certain amount of copying can be done under the "fair use" doctrine, but that does not allow a third party to make a profit by doing so. And there are certain exceptions made for teachers and educators, which, once again, would not allow a third party to make a profit off copying it. And which generally would not allow you to copy the entire work, either.

And finally, just in case you are still considering doing this, there is this bit from the copyright FAQ on peer-to-peer downloading: Uploading or downloading works protected by copyright without the authority of the copyright owner is an infringement of the copyright owner's exclusive rights of reproduction and/or distribution. Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed. In addition, an infringer of a work may also be liable for the attorney's fees incurred by the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights.

Now, I'd be willing to say that if you are taken to court over this, and the other side wins, that's the kind of penalties that you will be looking at. And, that's probably going to be per article, probably at the willful level. Do you think you will make enough money doing this to offset one 150K judgement?

[froggy7]

Oh, just to throw in some more interesting facts about copyrights, copying, and all that jazz:

I hang out on a newsgroup devoted to books. Learning about the ins and outs of the publishing world from actual authors is a fascinating experience. One of the most important things to comprehend is that the author owns the story. He merely leases the right to copy and distribute it to other people. When the lease is up with one publisher, he can take the same story to a different publisher, because he still owns it.

The importance of this distinction is that the magazine only has the rights that the people who wrote the articles assigned to them. And, depending on how old the magazine is, those rights may have reverted back to the original authors, which means that you would need to go and talk to them individually and see what they think about you selling copies.

Which is why it can be a nightmare for a publisher to try and bring out a new edition of a collection, since you may only get approval from 90% of the authors, which means that the it's a no-go. Or, you may not be able to find who has the rights to one story, if the original author has died, which also means you can't republish the collection with that story.

[RickJ]

Thank you everyone, for your input. I'll definitely get legal advice before doing it.