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Does anybody know! International copyright
January 24, 2010 | 12:11 pm
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By Paul Biba
The following question came from Piet van Oostrum:
Does anybody know: How are the rules for international copyright? My question is triggered by the following phrase on uploaded ebooks in the mobile read forum:
This work is in the Canadian public domain OR the copyright holder has given specific permission for distribution. It may still be under copyright in some countries. If you live outside Canada, check your country’s copyright laws. If the book is under copyright in your country, do not download or redistribute this work.
I can understand the redistribute part but I have some doubts on the download part.
In Canada the copyright rule is life+50 years. In Australia it is more or less the same. So works by an author that dies in or before 1959 is in the public domain in Canada. This means I can make as many copies of it when I am in Canada; a publisher can publish it in Canada and sell as many copies there as they want. When I buy such a copy, or make a copy myself, I can take it with me to my country (the Netherlands – where the copyright is life+70), I think. At least our copyright doesn’t forbid it: I am not making copies or publishing the book.
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Now suppose the author has died after 1940. I cannot make additional copies here except as allowed by fair use, and I cannot publish the book. However the copy that I bought in Canada I can sell on the second-hand market. I also can give it away to somebody of course.
Now when I am still in Canada I think I can mail the book that I bought to a friend in the Netherlands. But I probably can’t make a business of sending these books to customers in the Netherlands, I thinks because then I would be publishing it there. Is that right?
Now can a Canadian shop send me the book when I order it there? Can I have a friend buy the book and send it to me? I think he can. Canadian law doesn’t forbid it I think and he is not doing anything illegal here in the Netherlands.
Now how is the situation with ebooks? Can I legally download the ebook from the Netherlands? By the way, at the moment downloading music or videos in the Netherlands is legal, even if it is an illegal copy. The government is thinking about changing this. There is also a levy on blank CD’s/DVD’s for this. The law doesn’t talk about ebooks, however, so it is a bit unclear.
Now when I download it in Canada, that’s legal. I think I can keep it on my computer when I return. I am not copying or publishing it in the Netherlands. Similar to taking the paper book with me.
Later this year I will be in Bolivia which also has life+50. So there I can certainly legally download the ebook. Then I can take it with me when I return home, I think. Is there any difference between downloading it from the Netherlands? The end situation is the same in both cases.
Some of the questions above I am not sure what the answer is. When you substitute your own country for the Netherlands the situation may be different. But I think these international differences make it confusing. What do you think is correct?
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Comments:
Stick to the paperback example first. Why not Raymond Chandler, who died in 1959?
Now suppose New Phoenix Publishing starts printing Chandler paperback editions for the Canadian (Life+50) market.
The pb is Life+50 in Toronto; the sale takes place in Toronto (ie money exchanged). There is no copyright infringement on transporting that book anywhere in the world. Suppose the shop completes the sale in Toronto but then ships to pb to Chicago where Life+70etc applies? No violation: the sale was completed in Toronto.
Make the example an e-book of Raymond Chandler, same scenario, same result: no violation.
But suppose Toronto ABC Books opens a branch in Chicago? If it starts to sell those same Life+50 paperbacks in the Windy City as printed by New Phoenix Publishing? Rondom House owns the US rights under Life+70etc and can demand ABC Books (Chicago) cease and desist and demand damages.
Now go back to the e-book edition. As long as it is sold through ABC Books (Toronto), delivering the electrons to Chicago shouldn’t matter. With its vested interested in ABC Books (Chicago), however, the Toronto parent may decide not to sell to US credit card holders. Plus Rondom House in the US might choose to withhold ALL titles from ABC Books (Chicago) putting that bricks and mortar location at risk.
It’s a commercial eco-system, right? Commercial vendors will want to play ball which is exactly why Amazon.com has different distribution rules based primarily on your credit card location. However, in theory, since you are “picking up” the purchase in the US, US rules should apply. And, you ought to be able to “pick up” your e-book in Canada if you live in Arizona and enjoy public domain access.
If I understand your question, you are asking about the legality of having an ebook on your reader/computer when you are traveling.
When you download, you must obey the copyright laws in the country you are downloading in. US rules apply when you download in the US, Canadian rules in Canada, etc. The same rules apply when you are uploading something.
However, if you have a book on your computer/reader that is out of copyright in the country where you downloaded it but still in copyright in the country you are traveling to, you won’t be in legal trouble as long as that document is for private use, and you don’t share or upload it.
If I haven’t answered your question or you need clarification, please ask here.
To make this simpler – what determines the legality is the Point of Sale. For paper books that’s the location of the seller. With ebooks it’s turned around, and it’s the location of the buyer/user that matters.
Don’t ask me why though. International copyright law is just screwy when it comes to this.
Peter Hirtle’s new book on copyright is quite approachable, and downloadable for free as a pdf; or may be purchased in paperback for about USD 40. He covers the international component fairly well.
Thanks. I suppose you mean `Copyright and Cultural Institutions’. I have downloaded the book.
I was wondering if the answer is in the copyright law, or more related to jurisprudence.
The fact is that author’s heirs own the rights for 50 or 70 years after life. If they are french it is 70, if they are canadian it is 50. Once rights are in the public domain in the author country, I guess it is also in the public domain for the entire world.
I’m not sure, but it makes sense to me.
I think you will have to check what the copyright law of your country of residence says. I looked it up in the Dutch law and it (roughly) says:
1. The law applies to works of which were first published in the Netherlands, or which were published in the Netherlands within 30 days after being first published in another country. It also applies to all works published by Dutch people.
2. Makers that are not Dutch but have their normal residence in the Netherlands are counted as Dutch with respect to works that have not been published or that have been published after the maker got his normal residence in the Netherlands.
So this law doesn’t apply to a lot of foreign works. But for these the Berne convention will apply, I think. International treaties have higher priorities than national laws, I think. I don’t have the text of the Berne convention at hand so I can’t check at the moment. Besides these legal documents are hard to read for a non-lawyer.