1.   Eldred, a former computer programmer at Wang Laboratories, runs an Internet site called Eldritch Press, which offers free copies of books whose copyrights have expired.

2.   Such borrowing is accomplished most easily when a copyright has expired or never existed.

3.   Then you can visit www.memoware.com and download thousands of older titles whose copyrights have expired.

4.   But the Joyce estate, which uses Random House as its American publisher, insists the copyright has not expired.