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[cambium0]

Can you take a photo of pages in a book at a bookstore?  Could you then store that photo in another app in your phone and use it personally but never share it with anyone else?

[MYK]

People have been photocopying pages of books for decades.  It's obviously infringing, but if it's for your own personal use only, it's not like anyone will catch you.  See also: libraries, "fair use".

[Toot Aps Esroh]

I suppose the book store owner could toss you out for "using" the book without buying it... but that's not a copyright issue.

[cambium0]

Thanks for the replies.  I didn't really know what I was asking until I wrote this post, then i used it to search online.  The response was similar.  There is a bit in the opening pages of most books "All rights reserved.  ... No part of this book can be reproduced ... " etc.  That pretty much cinches it.  Nobody will catch me, and probably nobody will catch my app users, but I don't think I can state in the copy that this is something they could do.  I could hint at it though.

[MYK]

Nobody will catch me, and probably nobody will catch my app users, but I don't think I can state in the copy that this is something they could do.  I could hint at it though.

Well, now you're changing things.  Perhaps most obviously, "my app".  What's the purpose of an app for taking photos of books?  People can already do that with the built-in camera in their phones.

So, your app must have some other purpose beyond merely "oh here's a quote I like, I think I'll save it" or "I want to make a really crappy cellphone photo of this month's Playboy centerfold".  Tagging and organizing photos?  Well, maybe ok, but it seems oddly specific to be writing an app that you think is going to be used in bookstores.  So I'm guessing there's something else going on.  And I'm going to mention the term "facilitating copyright infringement", which is what past federal criminal copyright infringement actions were taken against in such products as Napster, Limewire, eDonkey, MegaDownloads. . . .