"Project · Gutenberg" which freely publishes copyright-free literary works is partially prohibited from viewing from Germany

Electronicize literary works whose copyright in the United States has disappeared after a certain period has elapsed since the author's death and publish it on the InternetProject · Gutenberg"Was appealed by the right holder in Germany and ordered to take action to block access from Germany as a result of the trial. In the background there are problems related to different copyright protection periods in various countries around the world.

Court Order to Block Access from Germany
https://cand.pglaf.org/germany/index.html

On February 28, 2018 in the district court of the city of Germany Frankfurt am Main, on 18 February 2018, 18 projects published at the Project · Gutenberg (PGLAF), "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" (PGLAF) The decision to stop the publication of works written in German and to pay a fine of up to 250 thousand euros (about 33 million yen) was issued. In response to this decision PGLAF accepts the decision and announces that it will implement the required measures.

This appeal was filed against the PGLAF and its CEO, Greg Newby, on December 30, 2015, German literary publisher S. Fischer Verlag, GmbH (Fisher) became plaintiff. In the suit, plaintiffs said that Project · Gutenberg was damaged by exposing 18 literary works protected under German copyright law on the Internet, making it accessible from Germany did.

I was a student at the University of Illinois at that time in 1971Michael S. HeartThe project, Gutenberg, which was initiated by Mr. Gutenberg, was created by transcribing works whose copyright was lost in the copyright law of the United States, converting it to electronic data and publishing it free of charge, so to speak as a service that corresponds to the "electronic library" . He had the right to access the large general-purpose computer "Xerox Sigma V" which was in the Institute of Materials Research at the University of Illinois, and was allowed to access the computer which was very expensive and could not be mentioned at the time He said that he started this project as a "return" to that thing.

Mr. Hart (left) and Mr. Newby (right) are reflected in the following photos. Mr. Hart died at the age of 64 in 2011.

By"Marcello"

Mr. Hart, who believed that this computer was one of the 15 nodes of the computer network that evolved into the Internet later and believed that "there will be an age when computers will be able to handle even the general public," Mr. Hart said, I decided to be free to use in a form. It happened to be Mr. Hart's bag in the American Declaration of Independence Booklet, so this was the first electronic text of Project · Gutenberg. The name "Project · Gutenberg" was taken from a German, Johannes · Gutenberg, who caused a printing revolution in the 15th century, and Mr. Hart named it.

When the project began, there was a work to digitize the text written in the booklet into text data and publish it, but afterwards considerable work has been mechanized due to the development of OCR technology and others. As of March 2018, the number of holdings has reached approximately 56,000, includingAnne of Green GablesYaDaddy-Long-Legs,Wizard of Oz,20,000 miles of the seafloor,Robinson Crusoe's Adventure,Alps girl HeidiAlso includes a number of masterpieces such as. Many of them use plain text whose character code is US - ASCII, but some are in HTML format, PDF format,EPUBReadable in format and Amazon KindlemobiFormal ones are also available.

In this ruling, content that the plaintiffs' side's appeal is almost fully accepted is indicated, and PGLAF already shows the intention to accept the complaint. The German writer was prohibited from being released to GermanyHeinrich ManAnd a German novelist of a novelist and his younger brotherThomas Man, And also a German novelistAlfred · Devereine18 pieces that they announced. However, it is not that data is deleted from PGLAF's server, but it is "to prohibit access from Germany", so if you are accessing from a country other than Germany, you can view it as before ... apparently ...

PDF file of English translation of judgment sentence and judgment sentence can be viewed by clicking the following image.

·(PDF file)Im Namen des Volkes Urteil(Original of German)


·(PDF file)In the Name of the People Judgment(English translation)


In addition, the work prohibited from access from Germany is as follows.

◆ Heinrich Man(Death of 1950)
·Flöten und Dolche
(Published in 1905: Public Domain in the United States in 1961: Public Domain: Published on February 8, 2010, electronic version)

·Flaubert und die Herkunft des modernen Romans
(Published in 1917: Public Domain in the US in 1973: Published on August 2, 2010 in electronic version)

·Der Vater
(Published in 1917: Public Domain in the US in 1973: Published on August 2, 2010 in electronic version)

·Professor Unrat, oder, Das Endeines Tyrannen(Japanese title "Professor Olato")
(Published in 1906: public domains in the United States in 1962: published on the electronic version on February 13, 2011)

·Der Untertan(Titled 'Subject', 'Empire' Trilogy)
(Published in 1918: Public Domain in the United States in 1974: Published in electronic version on November 4, 2011)

·Die Ehrgeizige: Novelle
(Published in 1920: Public Domain in the US in 1976: Published in electronic version on July 28, 2013)

◆ Thomas Man(Death of 1955)
·Gladius Dei; Schwere Stunde(Japanese title "God's sword")
(Published in 1903: Public Domain in the USA in 1959: Published in Electronic Edition on April 15, 2004)

·Der Tod in Venedig(Japanese title "I will die in Venice")
(Published in 1912: Public Domain in the United States in 1968: Published in Electronic Edition on April 22, 2004)

·Tristan(Japanese title "Tristan")
(Published in 1903: Public Domain in the US in 1959: Published on the Internet on October 20, 2004)

·Tonio Kröger(Japanese title "Tonio Krainger")
·Tonio Kröger(Second electronic version release)
(Published in 1903: public domains in the United States in 1959: published on the electronic version on November 6, 2007 and January 27, 2012)

·Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie(Japanese title "Budden Broke family people")
(Published in 1901: Public Domain in the USA in 1957: Published in Electronic Edition on January 1, 2011)

·Königliche Hoheit: Roman(The title 'Grand Prince Honorable')
(Published in 1901: Public Domain in the US in 1965: Public Domain: Published on March 6, 2011, electronic version)

·Der kleine Herr Friedemann: Novellen(The title "Small Friedeman")
(Published in 1897: Public Domain in the United States in 1953: Published on the Internet on July 17, 2011)

◆ Alfred · Devereine(Death of 1957)

·Die Ermordung einer Butterblume und andere Erzählungen(Japanese title "Dandelion killing")
(Published in 1913: Public Domain in the United States in 1969: Published in Electronic Edition on March 16, 2010)

·Die Lobensteiner reisen nach Böhmen: Zwölf Novellen und Geschichten
(Published in 1917: Public Domain in the United States in 1973: Published in electronic version on July 20, 2011)

·Wallenstein. 1 (of 2)(The title 'Wallenstein' 1/2)
(Published in 1920: Public Domain in the United States in 1976: Published in Electronic Edition on October 11, 2013)

·Wallenstein. 2 (of 2)(Japanese title "Walenstein" 2/2)
(Published in 1920: Public Domain in the United States in 1976: Published in Electronic Edition on October 11, 2013)

·Die drei Sprünge des Wang-lun: Chinesischer Roman(Japanese title "Three leap of Wang Lun")
(Published in 1916: Public Domain in the United States in 1972: Published in Electronic Edition on October 21, 2013)