Can I reproduce out of print books?

[Alan Olsen]

On Sun, 11 Mar 2001, A. Melon wrote:

> Does anyone know the law regarding duplication of out of print
> books/other works?
> 
> E.g. Stephen King withdrew his book 'Rage' (support your neighborhood
> second-hand bookstore) about a schoolkid who holds his class hostage 
> at gunpoint, shortly after the Littleton shootings.  King _does not_ 
> want this book to be available to the public until the mess blows over.
> 
> If I distributed this book in electronic format for free, I would not
> be costing him a single penny.  Would I still be violating the DCMA
> and which other laws would I violate?  
> 
> Also, what if I claimed that books like King's were in some way
> responsible for the current spate of shootings?  Would I be able to
> reproduce the book (so my quotes can be judged in the context of a whole 
> work) in order to campaign against it?  Or can he legally suppress his 
> own works?

You would still be in violation of the law.

Censorship by copyight is not new.  It has been going on for quite a
while.  (Everything from the Scientologists trying to prevent leaks of
their pay-per-view religion to companies that produced films hyping
products that turned out to be a danger to the general public. (Like the
paint company that was pushing a paint mixed with DDT in incredibly high
doses.))

I expect to see alot more copyright censorship in the coming years.  In
fact, I expect that with the direction the feds are taking, all forms of
censorship will have copyright violations attached for extra jail time
added.

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