Selling the MIT guide on eBay??

[myname1960]

Was wondering if someone can legally sell the MIT guide on eBay? I know you can find it in a lot of places free but does anyone actually own the rights to it?

I see it is being sold right now with a starting price of .01 and a buy it now price of .99 What i think is strange is they have a processing fee of $2.99 and they will "email" you the MIT e-book.

Oh well i guess with eBay anything is possible. Later ppl,
Chris

[mbell]

Seen it a few times, don't know if it's legal. At the start of the guide it says distribution is permitted so long as the notice is left.

If people just spent a few seconds Searching....

[WhiteHat]

I reckon anyone stupid enough to not search the net first deserves to be ripped off.

but I don't think the ripper offerers deserve to get the money.

[myname1960]

I think what really seemed like a rip off was the $2.99 processing fee for an email that would be sent.

Chris

[myname1960]

Seen it a few times, don't know if it's legal. At the start of the guide it says distribution is permitted so long as the notice is left.

If people just spent a few seconds Searching....

Actually i just looked at my "MIT" guide and it said " Permission to reproduce this document on a non-profit basis is granted provided that this copyright and distribution notice is included in full "

Looks like no one should be selling this. Well legally anyway. Your th oughts on this now.

Chris

[mbell]

Breach of copyright laws also applies to "Secrets of lock picking", available wideley on several sites and also sold as an 'ebook' on ebay.

[reg]

The german translation of the MIT - Guide has been done by and for members of the SSDeV, so the club has the copyright (or rather Urheberrecht, which is a different concept) of the translation.
The information is available freely and can be distributed on a non-profit basis. The SSDeV regularly stops auctions of the german version on ebay.

Cheers,

reg

[technik]

I dont think just becuase someone translates a book they habe rights over that new translated version. If I made a book, I would have rights nomatter what

Just my 2

[CitySpider]

That's right. Just because you translate it, doesn't mean you own the rights to the words. At least, that's not how it works in the USA.

And unless the guy on EBay is the guy who wrote the thing, he shouldn't be selling it.

[ReverseLogic]

The weak part is that he is legally allowed to charge a "distribution fee." It's one of the problems of legal semantics. It's the same idea behind all the various linux distributions. They technically can't charge you for the product itself (thank you Linus Torvalds), but they charge you for all the stuff that they send with it (if you buy it at the store.)

[Chucklz]

Additionally, there is this little bit
http://www.lysator.liu.se/mit-guide/lame.html

Seems like the MIT community no longer wants to have anything to do with "the guide". Perhaps, one could sell it, but its still just ripping people off.

[mightymouse]

Reverselogic: Your reference to linux is incorrect. The GPL specifically _allows_ people to sell on GPL software as if it was something they'd created themselves. Remember? - Freedom, not beer :) See www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

When you buy a boxed distro in the store you are normally paying for a support contract in addition to the software itself. And I believe they sometimes add propriety pay-for stuff as well which you may be charged for; I havent paid for a linux distro since 99 though, so I'm pretty out of date as far as that goes.

Hope this clears things up a little.

[ReverseLogic]

I stand corrected

[reg]

That is the difference between the Urheberrecht and the copyright.
With translating you create a work in its own right (if you have the right to translate), so as soon as there are translations there are several layers of rights - the highest being that of the original author, who can only give out usage rights for named usage (such as translation or publishing in print)
This is in its shortness very incorrect, but perhaps you get the idea (ie. the auther can never give up his Urheberrecht).

That's right. Just because you translate it, doesn't mean you own the rights to the words. At least, that's not how it works in the USA.

And unless the guy on EBay is the guy who wrote the thing, he shouldn't be selling it.