>Does PG have guidelines for verifying a book is in PD before copying it? I mean besides "its really old, more than a hundred years, so it must be OK"? Is there a procedure that was used to vet the status? One mistake is all it will take to destroy the good name and works of PG and other projects by association.

Mistakes have been made; and yet, most people realize that an attack on a non-profit organization that has made an innocent mistake and promptly took actions to correct it when informed is not a good PR move, and most judges aren't going to be amused if you drag it into their court.

And yes, after 30 years of doing this, PG has taken the time to research the copyright laws and get some lawyers who are willing to donate time to the project. While there's a human checking everything and working through the exceptional cases, the basic rules are at: http://www.promo.net/pg/vol/pd.html