I have almost half the rulebook transcribed into Word (no TD tips…just the rules). If you’d like to contribute a few chapters and get the finished product please PM me. Must be a TD so I’m assured you have a rulebook and this would be a secondary resource. All free, like having an MP3 when you own the CD.
Keep in mind that it is probably ok to do this for your own purposes, but if you share it or give it away, doesn’t that violate copyright rules? Do that with a best selling novel and see what happens 
I believe Tim Just has his original soft copy which was sent to the publisher, and also an updated copy that incorporates all of the rule changes over the years.
I think it has already been asked and answered in the negative, but it would have been nice if we could reach the point where enough changes are made that posting the updated soft copy would no longer be a copyright infringement.
Yep. If the USCF ever wants to just publish a 6th edition, essentially the 5th edition with all the rules updates only (with no further revisions), all I would need to do is some formatting. Of course the USCF would need to do some negotiating with the publisher (I believe they have first right of refusal via contract) concerning what format (on-line? Kindle?, hard copy?) it would be published in.
The Delegates, via motion by moi, directed the USCF to make the 5th edition available on-line. That date has come and gone.
I know I have posted this before, but it bears repeating.
Regrettably, these two sentences speak (unfortunate) volumes.
I’d like to see an online rulebook too, but the Delegates never had the authority to unilaterally change the contract the USCF has with the publisher of the rule book. IMHO, this DM was improper and should probably have been ruled out of order by the chair.
The last major thread was in 2011, Online Rulebook. The last BINFO regarding the publisher contract was in 2010…BINFO 201000173…by Mike Atkins. No one responded to that message.
I thought that maybe – MAYBE – the Delegate motion would get the ball rolling on this issue. I know there are EB members that care, but there isn’t any information on what’s going on (which I suspect is nothing, given the other organizational firedrills).
And the “powers that be” could at least give a real try (not just one phone call without a follow up) to negotiate with the publisher regarding a rulebook (or parts of it) on-line. Perhaps the publisher has changed their minds when it comes to works like our rulebook being on-line? But, we will never know because there has been no contact (or even a report to the Delegates about any contact that did take place). I called one of the “powers that be” several times to try and motivate them to make that phone call to the publisher. Nadda on their part?! My recent experience indicates that the “powers that be” have nice words for the on-line rulebook idea but engage in little to no action to back it up. I wish it were different, but it is not.
And here is the google book link (http://books.google.com/books?id=DzIYPq8W1UwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=uscf+rules+of+chess&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4BU1UY3_LMPxygHT7YHIAQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=uscf%20rules%20of%20chess&f=false ). Note how many pages of the rulebook are right there on-line already?! This link has been there for several years. I don’t know if the publisher or USCF has contacted Google about it.