technical library

Yes, the copyright laws stop the full reproduction of many technical publications. Caterpillar in particular, keep a team of Rottweiler lawyers on hand, and go for the jugular, if you reproduce anything they have produced or own .. particularly trademarks, logos, and trade names.

Caterpillar have never relented on ownership of any one of the about 28 different logos that they have used over the last 8 decades.
If a trademark or a registration of one of their items is due to expire, they will renew it .. no matter if it goes back to 1925, when Caterpillar was first formed as a company.

However, there are numerous escape clauses in copyright laws, particularly relating to publications.
One is, if it's in the "public domain". If a publication has been issued by a Govt Dept, the Military, or some other public body, it's deemed to be "in the public domain" and all copyright has generally been relinquished.
Anything issued by the U.S. Govt is "public domain" and has no copyright. WW2 military manuals and publications have no copyright, as they were issued by the U.S. Govt.

Then there's the issue of "fair use". Copyright laws dictate that portions of publications can be reproduced, for discussion and education. This portion is generally accepted as about 10% of a publication.
As a result, you can't be prosecuted for copying a few dozen pages to help someone out, or educate them.

Then there's the issue of publications that were the work of many people who were employed by a corporation.
These publications are owned by the corporation. If the corporation goes bankrupt and disappears from the scene .. or is taken over and the name disappears, as the corporation assets are re-arranged amongst the purchasing corporation .. then those publications are regarded as having expired copyright.

The exception to this is if the purchaser states that they have purchased the name, logos and trademarks of the corporation being purchased, and continue to retain the right to use them.

In general, 25 years from first publication is the expiry date of copyright on printed material.

However, if your reproduction contains copies of logos, trademarks, registered names, etc .. you have to make it clear, that those logos, trademarks, registered names, remain the property of the corporation involved .. and that your reproduction is not an authorised reproduction by the company or corporation involved.

In general, most companies will not take legal action unless there's commercial benefit to the person reproducing the article/publication/photo .. or if there's commercial losses to the company/corporation involved.

This last angle is the tricky one. Even though a reproduced item may be about an obsolete product .. companies and corporations always keep an eye open on the benefits of current company promotion .. by using "vintage" items in advertising such as photos, articles, etc.

As an indication of the amount of $$'s involved in this stuff, I can recall a person wanting to produce a reproduction toy model of an old Cat tractor, that was obsolete 60 or 70 yrs ago.
Caterpillar demanded a figure of something like US$40,000 for the licencing fee .. PLUS a substantial royalty, on every model of that tractor sold.

As result, the person declined to go ahead with production of the toy model. There just wasn't the money in the project to make anything for him, Caterpillar were going to get the lions share.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain#Expiration_of_copyright

I would like to let every member of HCVC that the library is NOT just stacked in boxes it's been put on slevles and is live and well but will be more member freindly very soon.

As soon as it gets into our new club rooms and is put into the correct order and the current library list will be updated and then it will run like a full blown library. dave

Onetrack has provided a perfect example on how you must be careful looking up information on the Internet.

He has quoted US copyright rules. Must be aware we are Australia. Refer to the PDF I linked previously for Australia regs.

Biggest difference. Generally 50 years from publication. Sometimes more. And Australian government docs etc are applicable to copyright generally.

Not much is public domain except really really old stuff.

Another two cents worth on this subject, lots of information out there, eg, The International Harvester Club has a well stocked library for all makes & models of Inters, tractors etc. I am also a member of the I.A.M.E.(Institute of Automotive Mechanical Engineers), & on the diesel commitee for the heavy vehicle side of things, an organisation that is more than happy to find out things you may need to know from other members Aust wide who may be well versed to supply information you require.
Gilly

JB - U.S. copyright rules apply in Australia, to any U.S.-produced item .. and U.S. courts will enforce those copyright laws on Australian citizens .. even to the extent of having you extradited for copyright offences, if they consider them serious enough.
We live in a global world, and we can't get away with claiming a different jurisdiction in this century.

As far as claiming 50 years copyright, the Australian Copyright Council, copyright law article you supplied, is where I got the 25 year rule for publications (Table 2).

You are correct that the copyright applies to the country of origin.

Table 2 in the document is for Government documents only.

Fair enough re the copyright rules. To be honest, I was thinking of 50 year old manuals, LOL, but that's beside the very valid points made above.

Based on that, if we're not hosting manual and technical scans, then the discussion re a forum tech section is dead.

Thank goodness some ones had the good sense to put this one to bed as it was just starting to get carried away .

As it was saided way back if you have a drama with your truck you only have ask the question and most times you will get very advice. Dave

Dave

Once this is all sorted out will the list be available to all HCVC members so we all know what is available, and will books/items be able to be posted out to members & non members.

Trevor

I would like to let every member of HCVC that the library is NOT just stacked in boxes it's been put on slevles and is live and well but will be more member freindly very soon.

As soon as it gets into our new club rooms and is put into the correct order and the current library list will be updated and then it will run like a full blown library. dave

The books will be available to only HCVC members on the bases of we pay for the postage to you and you pay for the return which has been the policy for a long time now.

As we sort it out if there is more than 3 copies of the same w/shop manual then they will be sold thru the mag or ebay . Dave