I am considering to [La]TeXify an old typewritten book in mathematics. The book contains a lot of mathematical formulae and figures, but it was typed just before the [La]TeX age: its content is very interesting but it is very painful to read, very unfortunately. Grossly I am thinking of hacking an OCR output to get a LaTeX version of the book: it would be a kind of update of the typing and/or a repackaging of the content. I am wondering whether there is any Journal or something where such work can be accepted. Any hint is welcome.
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3Do you hold the copyright on said book? If not, that would probably be the first thing to sort out...– user9646Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 15:59
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I do not hold the Copyright. In fact I spent some time to find the Publisher web site or something: I could not find any. So, I am afraid that it did not survived the numerical age. On the other hand, I guess that its Copyrights were sold to some other publisher, so far I could not figured out which one.– Spherical TriangleCommented Jan 20, 2016 at 16:23
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2Have you tried to contact the author? If the publisher really went under (and is not just off the web -- not finding them on Google is a poor excuse), the copyright usually reverts to them (or their estate), so it's up to them to give permission. Even ignoring the legal side (which you shouldn't), their wishes should be respected. It's arguably an extreme case, but Grothendieck is reported to have expressly forbidden a similar effort for his Éléments and Séminaire de géométrie algébrique.– Christian ClasonCommented Jan 20, 2016 at 23:42
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1Closely related: This question about re-typesetting a paper (rather than a book) academia.stackexchange.com/q/15783/8513– Frames Catherine WhiteCommented Jan 20, 2016 at 23:44
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3It's also worth asking a librarian for help in tracking down the publisher. Typewritten mathematics books were most common from the 1950's through 70's, and I think there are few (if any) mainstream mathematics publishers from that period who have gone out of business completely. The most likely scenario is that they were bought by a company with a different name (possibly several times in succession).– Anonymous MathematicianCommented Jan 21, 2016 at 0:30
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1 Answer
This material is almost certainly under copyright, so the appropriate thing to do is to get in touch with the publisher and propose this project. They may, in fact, be receptive and willing to work with you to make this an official new edition. If they are not interested, then they may at least be willing to give you an official permission for your "remake."
If, on the other hand, the publisher is non-responsive or for some other reason cannot be contacted, then it would be reasonable to assume it's OK to go ahead with the remake and post it informally, e.g., on your personal website. Because of the copyright issue, no third party is likely to want to publish it, and if the copyright holder eventually decides to take notice and that they don't like what you have done, you may have to take it down (there is, of course, a chance that they may sue instead, but that is relatively unlikely for such a document). In the meantime, though, it would be a reasonable public service to provide for an apparently abandoned property.
answered Jan 20, 2016 at 16:01
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5if the copyright holder eventually decides to take notice and that they don't like what you have done, you may have to take it down – Or they may sue you. There is something like an “abandoned property” in copyright law, namely orphan wroks but they have to fulfill stronger requirements. As long as the publisher or author are alive or either of them has a legal successor that is findable with reasonable means, the work is very likely not orphaned. Whether these want to communicate with you, should be irrelevant to their legal claims.– Wrzlprmft ♦Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 21:10
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@Wrzlprmft That is certainly true, but also a risk that many academics (including myself) would be willing to take.– jakebealCommented Jan 20, 2016 at 22:08
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2That may very well be, but please do not misinform them and let them make that decision on their own, i.e., let them take the risk knowingly.– Wrzlprmft ♦Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 22:13
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2Something you often see when old photos are reprinted is a (prominent!) notice such as "Despite intensive effort, the copyright holders could not be located. They are asked to please contact the publisher where applicable." How much legal weight this carries is open for debate ("none" is always a safe bet), but it does indicate good faith and shifts (part of) the burden of proof onto the suing party. Of course, said effort must have been made (and documented). Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 23:32