On 25 Jul 2006 at 12:29, Johannes Gebauer wrote:

> On 20.07.2006 Andrew Stiller wrote:
> > Under US copyright law, the only thing Saur can copyright about such
> > a collection of PD material is the collection itself--that is, the
> > selection and ordering of the contents. If you don't copy that (that
> > is to say, the whole damn  collection, or a *really* substantial
> > portion of it) you are totally in the clear--and in the right too.
> 
> Not that I am any expert on this, but I think that there are
> exceptions for this kinds of prints, especially if no other edition,
> facsimile or engraved, exists. This may very well count as the very
> first publication (even if individual pieces have been in print in the
> past or present), and it could be, that the library gave the
> publication rights to Saur. In that case you may very well be
> violating their copyright by photocopying from the facsimile.
> 
> It is admitedly a grey area, but I don't think any individual would
> want to risk a court case on this, since in the recent past there have
> been several rulings on very similar matters, which surprised at least
> some.

Well, certainlly you wouldn't be able to find a *publisher* for your 
edition without permission from the library that holds the MSS that 
you base your edition on.

But that's a very different issue from printing out copies from a 
microfilm reproduction. I would think the scholar's fair use 
exemption (the same one that allows a scholar to make a single 
photocopy of a published article for personal study) would apply to 
that, though many libraries in the US these days will pay the copying 
fees to the periodical publishers regardless. But I believe that 
applies only when you have library personnel doing the copying, not 
when you do it yourself.

I would have *no* qualms about printing from a commercially published 
microfilm, even though any number of libraries may not like it and 
may not provide facilities where I could make the copies.

-- 
David W. Fenton                    http://dfenton.com
David Fenton Associates       http://dfenton.com/DFA/

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