Re: International E-book Sales Restrictions Explained

On 15/06/2012 02:18, Robotech_Master wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 4:54 PM, joseph harris<[email protected]>wrote:
>
>
>    
>> It is also quite critical to understand that each nation, while
>> observing the spirit of the Berne Convention [since we are talking about
>> copyright] passes its own laws. There are, therefore quite important
>> legal considerations for some books. When it comes to print books, which
>> Chris Meadows used as comparison, His claim and implication were quite
>> wrong. Geographical limitations do exist on sales of print books, at the
>> choice of the rights holder. And you and he miss an important point
>> here; no publisher, or self-published author, will willingly impose any
>> limitation that is not necessary. They want the biggest sales possible.
>> Any restriction is likely to be for very good reason.
>>      
>
> I'd just like to point out here that, as I pointed out in the article, I
> was quoting/paraphrasing Patrick Nielsen Hayden, editor for Tor books with
> decades of experience in the publishing industry. The comparison between
> print and e-books was his. (Though I will confess I didn't see any problems
> with it. The doctrine of first sale means that once someone has bought a
> physical good, he can then do whatever he wants to with it, including
> selling it overseas.)
>    

Hi Chris. I took your position in your article to mean that you shared 
Hayden's point, and you confirm that here with 'I didn't see any 
problems with it'. My assumption also reflected my reading of your views 
over the years.

As you are highly regarded for your opinions I felt and feel that those 
that look up to you deserve the most factual fare you can offer. While 
you may have an opinion that you reflect above, I do ask you to 
appreciate that my points, are about what copyright is and why it does 
not permit what Hayden suggests and which you publicise, are very 
factual and important. I am sure Hayden deserves honour for his 
experience; however, it may be that - as with so many eminent people - 
that experience is, while deep, very narrow. His idea certainly reads 
that way.

Under copyright law, with a few legal exceptions that are narrowly 
defined, decisions about what, how, when and why to publish belong to 
the copyright owner alone, and to his licencees according to the licence 
contracts they have with him or her. Those that think they are entitled 
to take what does not belong to them have for two or three decades used 
the new digital technologies to try to have their way in this. This 
attitude, which Google exemplifies in its scanning projects, has caught 
on with many people. That does not justify the thinking, nor prove it.

Copying without permission is a breach of copyright law; creating a 
different format is a breach of copyright law. The latter is probably 
more serious than the former, and the former is already fundamental to 
copyright itself.

Your further point above shows the confusion which I talked of in my 
earlier post. First doctrine, which is specifically American law and 
interpretation, does not permit a person to do absolutely anything with 
the goods, but it does give the right to sell as second hand a physical 
item, and that freedom pertains in almost every other country according 
to the variations in their own laws. There is, however, no logical 
parallel between a second hand physical book and a new-format digital 
file, or a print from a file in a specific digital format into a print 
book, or into a pictorial physical object.

Let me close by extending that thought. A second hand print book does 
not change in any material way from the time it is first sold according 
to the decisions of the legal copyright owner or his/her agents; the 
second hand value will be affected by any deterioration, as well as by 
the market forces in play. Every point made by Hayden and by you does 
require a new copy, and/or a new format. In moral terms it is a 
proposition of theft, in Civil Law and International Law and Trade Law 
it is clear breach of copyright and offends the Intellectual Property 
laws of nearly 200 countries.

Joseph Harris




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