Re: Selling outside of the U.S. (original subject line was blank)

On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 11:37:33, Patrick <Nakerite[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
>
> I want to change and republish some works in the American public
> domain but which may still be protected in other countries. What legal
> precuations in addition to the ones listed below need I take to prevent
> being sued in those countrues.

In order for you to be sued in those countries, you have to be there or any U.S. court has to honor the judgment in those countries which is almost nonexistent in area of copyright. So, if you want to protect yourself from the lawsuits, don't visit those countries for the rest of your life.

> On the copyright page, the following will be writen:
> This book may not be sold or distributed outside the United States of America
>
> On the sales literature and the website, the following will be written:
> These books will not be sold or shipped to addresses outside of the United
> States of America.

This is meaningless. You cannot control the behavior of the buyers unless you like to sue them for breaking your agreement. You may like to inform (or educate) them of the restrictions in other countries but the mere statement has no legal enforcement.

The only legal obligation that I see in your case is that you make sure that you don't sell the works to addresses in other countries where copyright for these works is still valid. Once a copy leaves your control and enters the buyer's control, your legal obligation ends.

Keep in mind that this is not a legal advice.

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com>
http://www.boycottcopyright.com

Number of days left until 1-1-2019 when all knowledge of 1923 in the land of the U.S.A. will be freed from their copyright owners' prisons: 5,489

Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain. Received on Mon Dec 22 2003 - 21:05:24 GMT