[LINK] Is copyright dead? [WAS: Special Report: The Future Of File Sharing]

[Jan Whitaker]

At 04:09 PM 8/06/2009, David Boxall you wrote:
in the article:
>Google has limited full downloads to books out of copyright, and only
>snippets are available from copyrighted books, but it has led to a brawl
>over who has the right to digitise a book: the author? The traditional
>publisher? Or anyone?

What a dumb set of questions. Whoever has the electronic rights has 
the right. It's that simple. If the author hasn't assigned those 
[sold or given freely], then it belongs to the author. D'oh. There is 
a move by publishers to include digital/electronic rights in the 
newer contracts without any alert to it. Agents have been talking 
about that being something to keep an eye out for and negotiate at a 
different royalty from print rights.

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

_ __________________ _