Answers.Body: <p>Depending on what jurisdiction you're in: almost certainly yes. The entire point of a work being in the "public domain", which is what works that are no longer copyrighted are, is that such works can be reused, remixed, repurposed, and even resold however you you. It's exactly the same legal approach that lets Disney sell copies of its own version of the public-domain story of Snow White.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-06-04T20:59:06.173Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-06-04T20:59:06.173Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: DataPacRat
Body: <p>As we know many ebooks are free of charge. Those are especially old books that authors died 100 years ago or so. Downloading such an e-book without paying is legal and many people do so.</p>
  
  <p>Given I use content of such an ebook that lost copyrights because of years gone since authors passed away, is it legal to sell digital version of the book adapted with my own pictures and photos?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-06-05T20:13:31.970Z
Comments.Text: I'm not a lawyer, so I can't really answer you (and I advise you to seek the advice of a professional with anything regarding laws), but I'm prone to think that selling something that is already free, is not the most profitable business.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Sekhemty
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-14T17:28:30.780Z
Comments.Text: In what way is "your" book an adaptation? How do your own photos add anything? Do you think your photographs of Dublin will enhance Joyce's public domain text *Dubliners?* Please don't do it. Amazon has enough crap public domain editions as it is.
Comments.UserDisplayName: user26732
Tags: <epub>
Title: Selling an adapted freely aquiered ebook
UserDisplayName: algorytmus
ThreadText: # Selling an adapted freely aquiered ebook
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-04)
  
  As we know many ebooks are free of charge. Those are especially old books that authors died 100 years ago or so. Downloading such an e-book without paying is legal and many people do so.
  
  Given I use content of such an ebook that lost copyrights because of years gone since authors passed away, is it legal to sell digital version of the book adapted with my own pictures and photos?
  
  **Tags:** epub
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I'm not a lawyer, so I can't really answer you (and I advise you to seek the advice of a professional with anything regarding laws), but I'm prone to think that selling something that is already free, is not the most profitable business.  
  > **username_2**: In what way is "your" book an adaptation? How do your own photos add anything? Do you think your photographs of Dublin will enhance Joyce's public domain text *Dubliners?* Please don't do it. Amazon has enough crap public domain editions as it is.  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2017-06-04. Score: 2
  
  Depending on what jurisdiction you're in: almost certainly yes. The entire point of a work being in the "public domain", which is what works that are no longer copyrighted are, is that such works can be reused, remixed, repurposed, and even resold however you you. It's exactly the same legal approach that lets Disney sell copies of its own version of the public-domain story of Snow White.
  
  
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