Selling public domain docs

["Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

There is no law that I have every heard of against selling public domain
documents ("is it unlawful to sell one of these federally-authored
papers?").  Step into a bookstore and pick up a copy of "Huckleberry Finn"  
or "Pride and Prejudice."  There are big dollars in selling public domain
material.  What such a seller does not have, though, is the *exclusive*
right to sell such documents.  This tends to (a) keep prices down (b)
chase away capital from investing in the dissemination of such documents,
and (c)  motivate publishers to seek ways to add value to such documents
(the scholarly introduction--copyrighted--to "Vanity Fair" or the search
mechanisms of WestLaw).

Joe Esposito