Wing Commander Novels online

P

Paddybhoy

Rear Admiral
Both the WC novels HotT and Fleet Action are available to view online on what appears to be a Russian hosted webpage.

I came across these webpages a couple of years ago when I just gained access to the internet and only recently did I think that they might still be out there. I'm not entirely sure about the legality of viewing them but the top of the pages make mention of the author W R Forstchen and copyright protection.

Sorry, not legal.
 
I found an online copy of End Run via the forums here. If you look up the End Run threads, I'm sure you can find it. I believe someone brought up the question of legality, but the link was never ommited afterwards.
 
We've allowed people to post End Run because Baen has specifically announced that it will never be reprinted (in the FAQ at their website).
 
Erm, no, not fair use.

At least as it's used in the US (I won't comment on how other countries use the term; as Baen is located in the US, US laws would apply, except where the Berne Convention on International Copyright [IIRC on the formal name], of which the US is a signatory, applies), "fair use" is to cover quoting specific parts of copyrighted works for commentary or educational purposes, as for example in a research paper. FU (*ahem*) doesn't allow for quoting an entire work verbatim, without comment, and the "educational" is kind of a hard sell for a fictional work set in a universe 700 years in advance of current time.

My personal suspicion is that the ER thing hasn't attracted legal attention only because the lawyers weren't interested in persuing the matter, probably helped that no money is being exchanged for the work. If push came to shove, and some lawyer got a wild hair up their ass (which would probably result in Jim Baen figuratively smacking the offending landshark upside the head, from comments in various places, but for the moment we'll set that aside), there is legal precedent on Baen's side.
 
Baen as a company is probably perfectly happy to have it online given (which it isn't, necessarily, in this case) that the author doesn't mind. The encourage their authors to put work up on their free online library once sales die down so that people can be exposed to them. Baen isn't going back and putting up old works because it would take them extra work and renegotiation of rights on their part. I doubt they really care if other people go and do it, though as long as they aren't overly blatent.
 
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