On 3/4/98, Joseph P. Riolo <riolo[_at_]voicenet.com> wrote:
>
> I purchased a book titled "The Old Testament Sabbath" by Niels-Erik
> A. Andreasen from a bookstore in Maryland and it arrived at my
> home last Monday. Though this book is out-of-print, I was able to
> locate it via Internet. The book, unfortunately, does not have
> an index, although it has a list of references in the back.
>
> The book is very scholarly and I believe I will refer to it
> many times in the future. To help me to locate any note in
> the book, I would like very much to create an index for the book.
> Also, I would like very much to put the index on my web page,
> so that others can copy it for their research. I also plan
> to put the entirety of the index in the public domain (at
> least for the U.S.).
>
> The book is copyrighted by The Society of Biblical Literature
> in the year of 1972.
>
> My specific questions are: If I create an index for the book,
> will I infringe The Society of Biblical Literature's copyright?
> Can I put the index in the public domain without infringing
> their copyright? Finally, will I infringe their copyright if
> I copy the index to my web page for others to access and copy
> it?
Inasmuch as you are not copying any meaningful portion of the book, you are not violating the owner's reproduction right. Thus, the only potential claim the Society might have is an infringement of their derivative work right. I don't see how you have recast, transformed, or otherwise adapted the original work. You have merely set up a mechanism that makes it easier for people to access specific portions of the original work. You have not made the work into something else that still contains something of the original; you have mapped the original.
Assuming I am right about no infringement, what you do with the index is your concern. If you see fit to waive any copyright ownership in the index (assuming that it could be copyrightable in the first place), that isn't a problem, and putting it on your web shouldn't be a problem either.
Two more things. First, I think it would be a good idea for you to contact the Society and inform them of what you plan to do. If they have no objection, that is a good thing. If they do have an objection, it would be a good thing for you to know in advance. And that leads to my second point. Certainly if they object and you wish to plunge ahead anyway, it would be advisable to seek the aid of legal counsel. Regardless of the merits of their objections, you should know what you might be getting yourself into.
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