What are the implications of digitising a work by an out of copyright author, but from a modern printed edition of the work?
Answer The literary work is out of copyright but the typography (the layout of the book) will be protected by copyright. Typography of books comes under the classification of ‘Published Editions’. So whilst digitising the text is not infringing any copyright, digitising from the modern printed edition will. Thus you could be sued for infringing copyright. In these instances it would be better to find an edition that is out of copyright and digitise from this. An alternative would be to just type in the text and save as a text file.
Related Questions
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