Comments on: A Reader’s Guide to Copyright

By: Marilynn Byerly

Marilynn Byerly — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:54:57 +0000

I’ve been involved with ebooks for over ten years, and I recall no law case involving ebooks from that perspective.

The only major ebook case was Rosetta Books versus Random House which involved publishing contracts.

Until someone has the financial resources to litigate whether the “first-sale doctrine” does or doesn’t apply to ebooks, the smart ebook reader shouldn’t resell an ebook.

I seriously doubt anyone will start a case like this because there isn’t enough money involved, and litigation will hurt everyone– readers and publishing people, alike.

By: Michael Pastore

Michael Pastore — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:23:18 +0000

That’s a good point, Larisa — and almost what I was hinting at. The U.S. Copyright Law can tell us simple things, such as “books published pre-1923 are in the public domain”. But the murkier issues — such as a fair use question, and “can ebooks be resold?” — are liable to broad interpretation.

I have three questions for you:

1) If a judge in Topeka Kansas decides that Joe Author violated a fair use clause, does this have the same force — on a national level — as a statute in the copyright law? … Or is this case in Kansas just fuel for the case of the next attorney who argues about this fair-use issue in New York State?

To me, it seems as if there is an enormous difference between what is stated in the Copyright Law — which would need to be challenged at the Supreme Court level, as Eric Eldred bravely attempted — versus these common-law cases, which can be challenged at any level.

2) Where can we find these essential case laws about ebook copyrights?

3) What is the current “updated” law, based on these cases?

Thanks for your valuable clarification.

Michael

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:17:41 +0000

“You buy the right to read the content of an ebook. You do not own the content. That means that you can’t sell an ebook to someone else.”

I’m really not sure about this statement. You say you “buy the right to read an ebook”. Wouldn’t this depend on who you are buying it from and if it is as a “sale” or as a “license”. I would agree that many places it as a license but I would also say this is not always the case and doesn’t have to be.

Case and point a while back I bought rpg books in ebook form and asked the publishers about my rights regarding selling the ebook to someone else. I was told there was no problem here.

By: Larisa

Larisa — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:35:10 +0000

Michael, thanks for the citation to Article 17 of the United States Code, but it is not at all the entirety of US copyright law. For that, you would have to look into the case law on the issue, not just the statute. In a common-law system, each judicial opinion becomes the law – as binding as any statute. When you read the statute, it’s not your interpretation of the words that matters – it is the interpretations of the judges who have tried cases on the issue and issued judicial opinions. You have to know these cases, and these interpretations, in order to know what the law is – they are the law.

This is especially true for murky issues like fair use – you must look at the case law if you are going to understand it. Just quoting the Copyright Act is not enough.

By: Michael Pastore

Michael Pastore — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:42:17 +0000

Here’s an article (on Gizmodo) that explains some of the more complex aspects of this issue:

http://tinyurl.com/cudf79

By: Marilynn Byerly

Marilynn Byerly — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:57:08 +0000

Michael, according to the Copyright Act of 1976, a work is copyrighted the moment it is put on the page or computer screen by the author. That means that the different formats– paper, digital, etc.,– are not covered specifically in general copyright law.

Used paper book sales are covered by “First-Sale Doctrine.” Since the “First-Sale Doctrine” refers to an “object,” it is also the original justification for saying that a digital book is not an object so it can’t be resold.

By: HeavyG

HeavyG — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:13:26 +0000

“When you buy a paper book, you own the paper, but you don’t own the content which still belongs to the copyright owner. You can sell the paper,…”

So does that mean if I sell a book I have to scrape all the letters off the pages first?

By: Larisa

Larisa — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:10:44 +0000

Nice primer, but it glosses over the DMCA as an obstacle to printing out ebooks. It is not, in fact, OK – ever – to circumvent copy-protection technology. Even if all you’re doing is printing out an ebook for your own personal use or doing something else that qualifies as fair use.

By: Michael Pastore

Michael Pastore — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:32:47 +0000

U.S. Copyright Law as an ebook

(Thanks to http://www.ManyBooks.net):

http://tinyurl.com/dcnasx

By: Michael Pastore

Michael Pastore — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:27:03 +0000

I would like to the see the paragraphs in the U.S. copyright law that explain the copyrights related to ebooks. Can anyone post that here?

And let’s keep in mind that copyright laws vary from country to country, further complicating the problem of copyright and ebooks.

Michael Pastore
50 Benefits of Ebooks