Are ebooks legal, and if so can I give links to them? :whistle:
Just a question, don't get mad at me. :blink:

I guess that depends on the book.


A pdf version of Lord of the Rings would be illegal (I think), but seeing as WendyMaree is a writer of EBooks for children... She should be able to tell you more about this world. It's her job, afterall :ok:

Well, the book has to be quite old for the copyright to have expired. For reference, this is what Project Gutenberg bases its work on.

EDIT: Of course there are also those that have been freely distributable to begin with.

As far as I am concerned, any books also are under copyright laws. This mean that it should be exactly the same thing for Ebooks than for Abadonware: if it's not freeware and/or permitted to share it freely on the web by the writer then it is illegal.

What about H.P. Lovecraft's storys?
Written in 1902-1936

i think that may depend on the copyright laws in your country. in britain, i think the time before the copyright protection will run out is 45/50 years

Yay. They aren't illegal.

i can't be 100% sure its correct, i'd check just to make sure

I am in the U.S. where they are much shorter.

There are legal ebooks and illegal ones. There are authors who only write ebooks and these are sold through epublishers on the web. Twilight Times Books is one of these - my epublisher. These are legal, of course. I think nearly every book published today has an ebook version available. These are legal if the ebook version has been arranged with the consent of authors and their publishers and they receive royalties from the sales. The biggest online seller of legal ebooks is Fictionwise.

http://www.fictionwise.com

Fictionwise is a distributor of about every ebook that's ever been printed...including a couple of mine.

Some ebooks are distributed by the author for free - usually from their websites - not through epublishers or distributors where you'd have to pay for them.

There are also groups on the web who exchange pirated copies of ebooks....just like pirated software and games can be exchanged. Only ebooks that are sold without the consent of the author are illegal.

Phew...long answer :blink: :)