Are the PDFs illegal, if you own the books?

[TimeOut]

From another thread (emphasis mine)

Hey folks,

It came to my attention today after reviewing the issues here that some people are posting problems based on use of the pdf and not the actual books. Aside from being illegal, this pdf is outdated and has many issues that were corrected in the final version of the books. For the sake of other players, please do not post a problem unless you can verify that it exists in the book.

Thanks
-Greg

Edit: Had to snip my reason for the question. Sorry. :/

I own a very nice set of the core 3 (even without smearing ink or welled pages!). Is it legal to use the PDFs as a quick reference (when I am at work and have no access to the books) or just for the convinience of the search function?

If not, why? And also: If not, could I legally scan my books into PDF to use them while at work?

 

[drothgery]

IANL, but...

It's probably illegal to download the books if you already own them.
It's certainly illegal if you don't.

It's certainly illegal to make them available for download, or otherwise distribibute them.

But it is certainly legal to scan them yourself for your own use.

 

[TimeOut]

It's probably illegal to download the books if you already own them.

Interesting.

It's certainly illegal if you don't.

It's certainly illegal to make them available for download, or otherwise distribute them.

Sure. I don't want to make them availiable.

But it is certainly legal to scan them yourself for your own use.

Thanks!

Edit: Ninja'ed by quote edit

 

[Skywalker]

It is illegal to download illegal PDF copies of the books, even if you already own them.

 

[pawsplay]

Who cares if it's illegal, if you own the books?

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Who cares if it's illegal, if you own the books?

The Copyright holder.

Edit: Oh, and the law.

 

[Zogmo]

Whatever someone's OPINION may be about this subject, here is the facts of life when it comes to this kind of thing in a court of law.

It's stolen material. Physical copy or digital copy doesn't matter when it comes to the law. You could by law be busted for possession of stolen goods. Even if you owned store bought movies but they found bootlegged versions of those movies at your place you would be busted for possession of stolen goods. Just because you have a legit copy doesn't make the bootleg any less illegal. The original bootleggers would use that as an argument in court and walk free every time if they only had to have purchased one copy legally.

Will you get busted? You just never know. Though they don't tend to go after one guy at a time with this stuff. They do huge sting/sweeps catching large quantities of people in their net when it takes place usually because the "source" gets busted and if they have an IP record on their computers that you downloaded a copy you may very well one day years from now get a summons to go to court. They will investigate you because even if you only had one digital copy you may have been reproducing huge quantities to sell from that one copy you got. You just never know.

I speak from first hand knowledge of a friend/coworker of mine. He only had a few digital copies of some material he downloaded from a popular website but that was enough to include him in a "sweep" because they had to make sure he wasn't a distributor. He wasn't, but the public embarrassment, legal fees and disruption of his family life were not good at all. And it went on for about two years total with a stern warning that they would be keeping an eye out for him. No jail time because he was just downloading but it really really isn't worth the risk from my perspective.

The point is, you just never know. Anyone who says they know should talk to my friend Erik. He knows.

 

[DaveMage]

Interestingly, you are allowed to make a copy for yourself on your own computer (if you own the books), but an illegally obtained .pdf is still illegal.

(Though if you have, but don't distribute an illegal .pdf, and you own the books, it's unlikely anyone will care - though the copy was still obtained unlawfully.)

 

[xechnao]

The Copyright holder.

Edit: Oh, and the law.

So are you saying that the copyright holder cares that he deletes his pdf so he has to make the effort and scan his book himself? This makes so much sense to me.

 

[Nifft]

It's not illegal to own them.
It is illegal to distribute them.

There are various arguments about what kinds of time & space shifting fall under fair use, but seeing as the PDFs weren't derived from the product you purchased, those arguments are shaky at best.

Cheers, -- N