Re: The Rating of Chess Players, Past and Present, by Arpad Elo

J=FCrgen R. wrote:
> <ttk5079@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
>
news:4c0f3e4e-9688-4e52-b666-0b9a6ad25018@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On May 9, 12:54 pm, samsloan <samhsl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >> Elo's book, The Rating of Chess Players, Past and Present, is
> >> reprinted today.
> >>
> >> http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891277
> >>
> >> Professor Elo's book, long out of print and almost impossible to
> >> obtain, has just been reprinted.
> >>
> >> Sam Sloan
>
>  >I'm still wondering if this book is in the public domain at this
> >time. It was first published in 1978, just 30 years ago. What is the
> >length of copyright for such works?
>
> Elo died in 1992, so most likely the copyright runs until 2062. The
> book was originally published in 1978 by 'Arco', which seems to
> be a vanity label. If you google you find a reference to a 1979
> edition by Batsford. It is possible, therefore, that Batsford
> owns the copyright; also possible that Elo's heirs own it.
>
> It is pretty much certain that Sloan doesn't own the rights
> to this nor to most of the other nonsense he is
> reprinting.
>
> The book itself isn't very interesting, because Elo stretches
> his point and doesn't have a solid grasp of statistical logic.
> However, the basic method, which is elementary, is well
> described in this book and also in 2 papers published
> earlier.
>
> What Sloan means when he says he is
> 'sending the book to the printers' is that he is sending
> a CD with the page images to Amazon. Amazon
> then runs off a copy and glues it together *after*
> somebody orders it.
>
> They don't seem to be very concerned about copyright
> owner****p; However, Sloan does have to state that he
> owns the rights. Presumably then Amazon is in
> the clear and it is Sloan who will get sued if the owner
> takes notice and thinks it is worthwhile.
>
> Another aspect of Sloan's current scam is that
> he seems to have no inhibitions about copying
> cover artwork for the pirated reprints.
> This may well be under separate copyright.


Arco was not a vanity press. They published a number of chess books
during the 1970s, including "The Complete Games of Paul Keres," a one-
volume edition of Keres's three books. I assume they were later
gobbled up by one of the bigger fish, but I've never researched it.