Scribd Gets Caught Up In 'Net Copyright Wars
Scribd was sued Friday in federal court by Elaine Scott, who describes herself as a "successful children's book author" and the author of Stocks and Bonds, Profits and Losses: A Quick Look at Financial Markets. The book is 25 years old and is available on Amazon for 39 cents -- or on Scribd, apparently, for free, where Scott claims it's been downloaded more than 100 times. Scribd does have a copyright management system, and a potentially lucrative deal with Simon & Schuster to sell 5,000 of their titles electronically. But Scott complains that authors who use Scribd's system have to agree not to hold Scribd liable, even if the system fails. Not that Scott has ever used it -- Stocks and Bonds wasn't licensed to anybody, she says. Her complaint (uploaded onto Scribd) after the jump:
