Copyright Confirmation How-To (old)

This page is partially or entirely outdated: Please see current guidance in the help section.

There are many eBooks on the Internet which are not yet part of the Project Gutenberg collection. In order for Project Gutenberg to distribute them, copyright research must be performed. As described in the Copyright How-To, our research is quite diligent.

We have a simple procedure for cases where an eBook exists, but the original printed source is unknown. The procedure is:

  1. Get a physical book which is copyright-clearable (i.e., per the How-To).
  2. Compare the first and last pages of each chapter of the physical book to the eBook that you have. Keep a listing of all differences.
  3. Submit the physical book + the changes in the eBook for copyright clearance (via the submission form. If the differences are minor (such as punctuation or spelling changes), all items will be cleared, and we will be able to distribute the eBook.
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