Emailing copy-written books to Kindle

[yoshimi]

I have my first Kindle on order, and have a query about sending files to the Kindle email address...

Do Amazon check the content of these files for copy-written material? If I download a PDF version of say 'Harry Potter' and send it though their conversion system, am I likely to get in trouble for it?

Obviously, much safer to convert in Calibre and transfer via USB, but then I presume I won't get it onto my 'Kindle for iPhone' app that way.

[Linjeakel]

So far as I know the whole conversion thing is an automated service so I'd be surprised if Amazon even knew what was in it, though I can't guarantee they don't make random checks. Kindles can read .pdfs natively so you could try and see what it looks like before you send it off for conversion.

As far as downloading 'under the counter' stuff like HP books, a word of caution. Be very, very careful of where you download the files from. They often come with quite severe viruses and malware on them. A friend of mine downloaded an HP file and the malware/spyware that came with it messed her hard drive up so much the only thing that could be done to restore it was to reformat it. 

I'd love to read HP on my Kindle too - a lot of people would - but personally I'm not that desperate!

[yoshimi]

Well I use a Mac, so don't really have the worry of viruses and malware. There's plenty books available on torrents.

I figure if I have a print copy, I should be entitled to download a digital version to my Kindle. I don't what the law is though.

[JSRinUK]

I figure if I have a print copy, I should be entitled to download a digital version to my Kindle. I don't what the law is though.

I don't know what country you're in but, here in the UK, the only person who has a right to copy the work is the copyright holder.  That's why it's called copyright. 

If you're not the copyright holder and don't have permission to copy from the copyright holder, you're not allowed to copy it - it doesn't matter what you think you're entitled to do.

That's my understanding, anyway.

[Linjeakel]

I don't know what country you're in but, here in the UK, the only person who has a right to copy the work is the copyright holder.  That's why it's called copyright. 

If you're not the copyright holder and don't have permission to copy from the copyright holder, you're not allowed to copy it - it doesn't matter what you think you're entitled to do.

That's my understanding, anyway.

I agree entirely, but it's not for me to tell yoshimi what to do - I simply tried to answer his/her question.

[yoshimi]

I don't know what country you're in but, here in the UK, the only person who has a right to copy the work is the copyright holder.  That's why it's called copyright.  

If you're not the copyright holder and don't have permission to copy from the copyright holder, you're not allowed to copy it - it doesn't matter what you think you're entitled to do.

That's my understanding, anyway.

I'm in the UK, and I'm not sure about your explanation. I don't see the difference of ripping a CD I own to put a copy onto my iPod.

...actually, just reading about it on Wikipedia and have discovered ...

On the whole, it is legal for an individual in the United States to make a copy of media he/she owns for his/her own personal use. For instance, making a copy of a personally-owned audio CD for transfer to an MP3 player for that person's personal use would be legal.

In the United Kingdom, making a private copy of copyrighted media without the copyright owner's consent is illegal: this includes ripping music from a CD to a computer or digital music player. The UK government has made proposals to allow people to make copies of music for personal use. According to one survey, 55% of British consumers believed ripping a CD to be legal, and 59% admitted to doing it.

So legal in US, not in UK.  Morally I'd feel I'm not doing any bad. I'm sure you rip CD's to your iPod/MP3 player too JSRinUK.

[JSRinUK]

I'm in the UK, and I'm not sure about your explanation. I don't see the difference of ripping a CD I own to put a copy onto my iPod.

There is no difference, as you've discovered.

Morally I'd feel I'm not doing any bad.

What the individual decides to do on their personal responsibility and in the privacy of their own home is not the issue.  It's important to know what the legalities are.

I'm sure none of us here would like to see a situation in which Amazon do a spot-check on PDFs, discovers that you've copied HP to your Kindle, reports you to the publisher, and they send their legal team heavy brigade to your door. 

After all, you only want to read your favourite book on your brand new Kindle.  It shouldn't be a big issue but, sadly, the world isn't made to be convenient. 

Until the law changes, we have to be aware of it.  Either that, or move to the US... 

[MAGreen]

The difference is you can make your own copy, it's the act of downloading from someone else that makes it illegal, at least here in the US. If you scan and prepare your own books (or rip your own music), that is fine.

[JSRinUK]

The difference is you can make your own copy, it's the act of downloading from someone else that makes it illegal, at least here in the US. If you scan and prepare your own books (or rip your own music), that is fine.

You're lucky to be in the US.  As the OP already discovered and quoted, making a private copy without permission from the copyright holder is illegal in the UK.

It's a subject that's continually being debated - primarily because it's virtually unenforceable. 

[MAGreen]

I wouldn't do it myself, but I also wouldn't make fuss if someone did. I do think downloading the book is a grey area morally, even if you own it, but making your own copy...I just don't see an issue. I don't know the laws well enough to make an argument one way or the other, and I don't really care. Laws are supposed to protect people, and I don't think making a copy of something you own in the format you choose hurts anyone.

[kay_dee]

You can't do a wrong thing right.

[lanfearl]

It's not legal in America at all.

Your downloading someone else's copy of Harry Potter.

That said. Amazon doesn't check. Don't worry about it.

And as long as you aren't completely dumb, you won't get a virus from downloading things. All you have to do is pay attention.

[Basilius]

And for that matter, if you're going to those lengths for a novel, don't get a PDF. PDFs are horrible for novels. Nearly every other format is available for those particular books.

[Ann in Arlington]

Your downloading someone else's copy of Harry Potter.

Since Ms. Rowling has not made Harry Potter available legally in electronic format anywhere in the world. . . . .if you have an e-copy of it, it has been pirated.  You may be able to justify to yourself your purchase of it. . . .but it's still not a legal copy since someone who did not have the right to make a copy of it, did so.

[Basilius]

Since Ms. Rowling has not made Harry Potter available legally in electronic format anywhere in the world. . . . .if you have an e-copy of it, it has been pirated.  You may be able to justify to yourself your purchase of it. . . .but it's still not a legal copy since someone who did not have the right to make a copy of it, did so.

Well, since we're splitting hairs... 

Someone may have had the right to make a copy of it for personal use, depending on where they live. (As we've seen, format-shifting music from a CD to MP3s is legal in the US, not in the UK. This is the same thing.) The certainly did not have the right to distribute that copy.

(And, unless the laws have changed in this regard recently, in the US downloading pirated copies of things is not illegal. Uploading them is. The catch is most software packages used for this purpose don't allow you to download without uploading the same content simultaneously. So it's usually the ancillary act that's illegal.)

But now we're WELL down a rabbit hole.

[lanfearl]

in the US downloading pirated copies of things is not illegal.

This is not accurate. Or even close to accurate.

For the most part, only uploaders get punished. However, it is still a crime.

[durphy]

I wouldn't depend on this info from wikipedia. In written works, you, the non author, are allowed to copy a few sentences if you're citing the work, and of course, you have to cite the work. Also, I don't think you are legally allowed to copy a cd. Of course, everyone knows that copying DVDs to sell or broadcast is piracy.

I'm not the copyright sheriff, but only sharing info. For more on U.S. copyright, http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html

[Ann in Arlington]

in the US downloading pirated copies of things is not illegal.

This is not accurate. Or even close to accurate.

For the most part, only uploaders get punished. However, it is still a crime.

I don't know, but I would tend to agree. . .and wasn't there a big deal some years ago where they came down hard on college students for downloading a ton of illegal music?

<shrug>  Doesn't really matter to me, anyway.  Even if it's not illegal, I still think it's wrong.  So I won't do it.

[kindlegrl81]

There was an article on here a little while ago that made it seem like JK Rowling is thinking about releasing digital copies of her books.  I think I will just wait and get a copy that I know is 100% legal.

[firedawn]

Back to the topic....

All the Harry Potter copies I've downloaded seem to be PDFs, and what's more they are US versions. But they are formatted SO nicely that I can imagine they would look wonderful on a DX, but sadly it is too large to display nicely on my Kindle.. they are formatted to look, page from page, exactly the same as the real American hardcover books, but is still highlightable, quotable, with real text and everything. It's pretty amazing pirating these people are doing, but I wish someone would put out a mobi version or a simple text one.

On the other hand... for the OP... just use Calibre to convert, and USB to transfer to your Kindle if you are concerned.

[Ann in Arlington]

For the record. . . .KindleBoards does not condone the pirating of ebooks, the purchase or distributing of ebooks, or discussions on how to do so.  Nor does it condone the stripping of DRM or conversations on how to do so.  I know -- we haven't gone there -- just tryin' to head it off at the pass.

ANY digital copy of a Harry Potter book is NOT authorized.  Let's let it be at that and move on. . . .

In general, if a file has no copy protection, you can convert it to a Kindle readable format with Calibre, or MobiPocket.  You should also be able to e-mail them to Amazon for conversion. 

Kinda feelin' like this thread has run it's course. . . . ..

[Basilius]

This is not accurate. Or even close to accurate.

For the most part, only uploaders get punished. However, it is still a crime.

Maybe I should rephrase that a bit: downloading a book from a torrent site is not, a priori, illegal. I could download a torrent entitled "cd full of science fiction books" and have it be perfectly legal (one of the Baen Free CDs.) I could, at the same time off the same site, download another torrent entitled "a large collection of science fiction books" that could be full of copyrighted files with no permission to distribute. Not legal.

Two identical acts at the same time and the same place. Yet if we go by what you said, one's illegal and one's not? Any reason why nobody understands copyright law?

A copyright violation occurs when a copy is distributed without permission. If you xerox a book at the library, you are the one making and distributing the copy (to yourself). When you download a copy off a torrent site, the uploader is the one making and distributing a copy (at your behest). Making a mix tape (remember those?) and giving it to a friend? You are the one that made and distributed the copy.

There's a lot of grey area here that is not sufficiently defined, but in every case making (and usually, distributing) the copy is the violation. And in the torrent/emule/limewire case, it's the uploader that's making the copy.

Of course, this isn't the place for the discussion...

[LibbyD]

So, boys and girls -- what have we learned?  Not much, apparently.  The law is the law.  Some people will obey the law while others will not and will justify their behavior by saying they are not hurting anyone.

If nothing else, perhaps the OP has learned that the subject of this discussion has been copyright, not copywrite. 

[kb7uen Gene]

I don't know a lot about all the copyright stuff with ebooks, but I think the only legal way to get the Harry Potter books is on www.bookshare.org.  They are a nonprofit set up to allow people with reading disabilities to scan, post, and share books on bookshare.org website.  I have been signed up for some six months now and really like it.  To become a member of Bookshare, you need to prove you have a reading disability, which I did, and then I talked to them about how to move the content over to the Kindle.  Every time I download a Daisy book, I have to enter a password to start the download process.

I am grateful that the talkingbook and Bookshare programs exist, but at the same time, if I can't find something I want to read on either of these sites, I will go looking for it through Amazon or other legal means.

I used to buy everything I wanted from the Amazon Kindle book store, but when the whole publishing thing started up, I got discusted and checked into Bookshare.  I would still rather give the money to the authors, but with the price hikes, the publishers are getting more but the authors are not.  It is the music industry all over again and it is the authors who loose out on this deal the most.

Every book has the notice shown below regarding copyright and so on.

Gene

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[yoshimi]

Okay folks, as the OP my question has been well and truly answered. Although I did help it turn into a discussion on copyright law.

Please note this was a rhetorical question, with the example book picked just because I know it's one book which can't be downloaded to a eBook reader legitimately.

I also accept the thread subject was incorrectly titled 'copy-written' rather than 'copyrighted', although that still sounds wrong!