TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics » copyright

The Raynfall Agency misses the point in its article on e-book piracy

Juli Monroe — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:09:54 +0000

Claire Ryan of The Raynfall Agency posted a pretty good article today on piracy; it includes the agency’s thoughts about what authors need to know, along with some practical tips for avoiding piracy of their works. Ryan didn’t cover anything new, but she did discuss the basics. I agree with most of what she wrote, but [...]

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Morning Roundup: Digital Book Signings, Copyright Reform

Joanna Cabot — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:28:59 +0000

Amazon Fights to Keep Secrets in eBook Trial (Publisher’s Weekly) Amazon attorneys last week filed a letter with the court asking that it be allowed to redact sensitive business information about its Kindle e-book program gathered as evidence for the upcoming Apple price-fixing trial. — CourseSmart Enhances its eTextbook Offerings (Good e-Reader) With some reports [...]

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Content vs. Container: An interesting copyright question, featuring those lovable Kardashians

Joanna Cabot — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:15:02 +0000

From The Huffington Post comes this interesting story about the Kardashian siblings, who are suing their former stepmother, Ellen Pearson, over control of their late father’s diary. Pearson has possession of the diary and has been releasing embarrassing snippets of it to the media. What makes the story interesting is that the Kardashians are alleging that [...]

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Morning Links: E-Books in Vietnam, plagiarism, and Shakespeare’s birthday

Joanna Cabot — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:12:21 +0000

eBooks Only Account for 1% of all Published Work in Vietnam (Good e-Reader) Is This Plagiarism? A New Web Extension Can Help Answer That Question (Paid Content) The Copyright Lobotomy (Techdirt) William Shakespeare’s Birthday Flowchart (GalleyCat) Kindle Daily Deal: Extended Family by Patrick Kendrick (and 3 others)

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Morning Links — The Digital Public Library of America has arrived

Joanna Cabot — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:11:31 +0000

The Digital Public Library of America has Arrived (Scholarly Kitchen) Debate Continues Over Enhanced, Interactive eBooks (Good e-Reader) Span Admits New Copyright Law is Designed to Keep it Off US Naughty List (Techdirt) Should Indie Authors Reach Out to Bookstores? (GalleyCat) Kindle Daily Deals: Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard (and 3 others)

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Author Joe Konrath’s surprising opinions of “fair use”

Juli Monroe — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:15:10 +0000

Joe Konrath published a thoughtful piece yesterday on fair use and copyright. I thought he was spot on and made some excellent points. He started by talking about copyright as it applied to authors, not to the industry. Not surprisingly, the publishing industry (print, video and music) all focus on copyright as it applies to [...]

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What does the SCOTUS’ Wiley v. Kirtsaeng decision mean for books, publishing?

Brian Howard — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:55:47 +0000

By now you’ve likely heard that the Supreme Court has ruled, in a 6-3 decision, in favor of immigrant scientist Supap Kirtsaeng in Kirtsaeng V. Wiley. In what’s being heralded as a win for consumers and libraries, and a loss for publishers, the SCOTUS overturned a previous ruling against Kirtsaeng, who had been buying textbooks printed (legally) abroad—where [...]

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Morning Links: More self-publishing success

Joanna Cabot — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:57:52 +0000

Canadian Government Creates Snitch Line to Report Librarians who Speak Publicly (Boing Boing) Self-Selling Self- Published Author Jennifer L. Armentrout Signs Six-Figure Deal (Digital Book World) Details on Copyright Register Maria Pallante’s Call for Reform (Techdirt) Amazon Now Allows Schools to Buy Apps in Bulk with Whispercast (Good e-Reader) Kindle Daily Deals: Slipping Into Darkness by [...]

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Supreme Court rules importation of textbooks legal under First Sale doctrine

Chris Meadows — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:35:24 +0000

Remember the Supreme Court case about the Thai exchange student who bulk imported cheap overseas copies of textbooks and resold them in the U.S. (making over $1 million in sales) to finance his doctorate? The judges handed down a decision today. By a six to three majority, they found that the student’s importation and resale [...]

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More on Amazon’s used e-books controversy

Marilynn Byerly — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:00:35 +0000

Digital products like e-books are licensed—not sold—to a buyer, so they can’t be legally resold, shared, or loaned. (See my article on e-books and the first sale doctrine for more information.) A group called the Owners’ Rights Initiative wants to change that. The ORI believes that the owner of a digital book should be allowed to [...]

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Europe’s Database Right: A scary concept

Joanna Cabot — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:48:01 +0000

Techdirt has a write-up on something I had never heard of–a special copyright introduced in 1996 which protects the contents of databases, even if all the works they list are public domain. The case Techdirt profiles involves a company which wanted to obtain some government records from the 1700s and 1800s and were told they [...]

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Morning Links — Indie authors, copyright and love stories

Joanna Cabot — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:21:48 +0000

Why Some Indie Authors Fail (Rich Adin) Amazon Maps the 50 Greatest Love Stories by State (Good e-Reader) Can Conservatives Break the Copyright Stalemate? (GigaOM) Self-Publishing Stigma: Because Revolution Takes Time (HuffPo) Kindle Daily Deals: Stone Maidens by Lloyd Devereax Richards (and 3 others)

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Schools: The Next Frontier for Battles Over Copyright?

Joanna Cabot — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:00:17 +0000

Techdirt is one of many who have picked up this story about a copyright battle that’s brewing in a Maryland school district over who owns work done by teachers—and students—during school time. The Prince George district is trying to pass a policy that would give it ownership over all materials that teachers create for use [...]

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Aaron Swartz suicide represents gross miscarriage of justice

Chris Meadows — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 01:33:49 +0000

On Friday, Aaron Swartz was found dead in his apartment; he’d apparently hanged himself. Swartz was only 26, a brilliant and troubled young man who suffered from clinical depression, and also an Internet activist who spoke out and acted out in favor of making access to public information more free to everyone. He was a [...]

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Morning Links — A Copyright Snafu from Lionsgate?

Joanna Cabot — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:39:34 +0000

Can Ownshelf, the ‘Dropbox for ebooks,’ sail clear of lending controversy? (The Next Web) Lionsgate Censors Remix Video that Copyright Office Itself Used as an Example of Fair Use (Techdirt) Will Amazon ‘Auto-Rip’ Print Books Too? (The Digital Reader) Random House Australia Acquires Print/eBook Rights to Best-Selling Book App (Digital Book World) Kindle Daily Deal: Fuji [...]

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