Hi, guys! I have a over 200gb of numismatic books from all over the world and there coins and ALOT of english editions. Redbooks dating from 1947 to date, Krause editions latest and old, Ancient coins guides dating from 18th century to now. What i was thinking is would be able to make a website and upload them all so people can use them. Would that be against the law? I will appreciate any help and opinions! regards, Rado
Not if you get the written consent of the holders of the copyrights. The "fair use" exception to copying copyrighted material allows brief excerpts in reviews, etc., but you can count on it that Krause Publications, Whitman Publications, and the holders of copyrights on other material you are talking about know the way to the court house! In fact, most of them have probably been there, done that, to other infringers.
collector, you have a good idea that would be helpfull. IT would be Difficult to get through the red tape and past the copyright infringement laws. You would have to re-write and care-fully re-phrase any information used, you can't even cut & paste brief paragraph. thanks ozarktravler
be careful about how you word your email. It must be very specific about your intent and that you will not be profiting from this activity in any way. That combined with lack of revenue losing stream from them might just do the trick
collector - think about it, Why would anybody give you permission to put something on the web for free that they charge money for ? They aren't - that's why the copyright laws exist.
Yes, but given the current state of the internet and how quickly people can freely exchange such information, you would think that these publishers would realize that they would be best to put the basic catalog info on the internet for free and turn the books into something collectible or worth buying (not just for the basic catalog info). One feature of the Schwartz & Lindquist book is that they give an easy color photo to compare your note to in order to figure out which color variety your overprint is. Think of it this way. I only bought Schwartz & Lindquist because of the many recommendations here, but had I just used Google (which is very common), the book that would probably do best is the one that is most talked about and referenced. Had their book had "something" available via the web such as abridged catalog info, they would be showing up at the top of Google internet searches, thus gaining much more exposure to potential buyers/subscribers. Information will be freely available, rather it's going to come down to why do I want to get it from your company and not somewhere else.
Krause already has a fair bit of their info on the internet for free. www.numismaster.com - if you want mintages, prices, and more detailed photos, then you have to pay, but for basic identification info, it's already free, even if it's not the most user-friendly.
I'd say it's already that way to a degree. But proprietary information & copyrighted material will always only be available from those who own the rights, or purchase them from the owner.
