I have a friend who is looking to publish some other peoples ebooks online. No where in the document does it say anything about copyright or distribution. There is a small spot about not giving it away as a free gift, that is it. Any legal issues here? Thanks Brad
Assuming the author lives in the U.S., England or other signatory of the Berne Convention, an ebook is copyrighted as soon as it is written. There doesn't need to be any notice in the document itself - the default is that the author retains the copyright. That means that your friend must get permission from the author to distribute the e-book. FWIW, I'd consider publishing it online the same as "giving it away as a free gift".