Writers and Editors
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• Carmack's Guide to Copyright & Contracts: A Primer for Genealogists, Writers & Researchers by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack • Clearance & Copyright: Everything You Need to Know for Film and Television by Michael Donaldson • Fair Use, Free Use, and Use by Permission: How to Handle Copyrights in All Media by Lee Wilson • A Guide to Oral History and the Law by John A. Neuenschwander (Oxford Oral History, with chapters on legal release agreements, subpoenas and FOIA requests, defamation, privacy issues, copyright, oral history on the Internet, institutional review boards (IRB), and duty to report a crime, with sample legal release forms, oral history evaluation guidelines (Oral History Association), and more. • The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions by Joy R. Butler, an entertainment and business attorney, on "using someone else's intellectual property for financial gain" • The Writer's Legal Companion: The Complete Handbook for the Working Writer, third edition, by Brad Bunnin and Peter Beren (Writes Dan Poynter: "covers contracts (intimidation, negotiating, terms), publishing in magazines (contracts, serializations), collaborations (problem areas, alternatives), agent relationships (finding, contracting), defamation (intrusive fact gathering, invasion of privacy, libel), copyright (the old law and the new, establishing, categories, length, derivative & collective works, notice, registration), protecting copyright (proving infringement, what to do), taxes & the freelance writer, resources (where to find a lawyer, how to choose, fees & bills), business (editor's role, the marketing process, non-traditional sales, premiums, special sales, the book trade, selling to libraries, subsidiary rights), new technology (eBooks, downloads, electronic media, negotiating), and much more." • The Writer's Legal Guide: An Authors Guild Desk Reference, third edition, by Tad Crawford and Kay Murray I have not looked at these books, but a couple of people have found them helpful: • Contracts Companion for Writers by Tonya Evans-Walls • Business and Legal Forms for Authors and Self Publishers by Tad Crawford |
Brussels court rules against Google in copyright case (Thomas Crampton, NY Times, 2-13-07). A court in Brussels ruled that Google violated copyright laws by publishing links to stories from Belgian newspapers without permission, a case that legal experts said could have broad implications in Europe for the news services provided by search engines. "Legal experts in the United States said the ruling would not have a direct impact in that country, but noted that the validity of the methods used by Google News have not yet been tested by U.S. courts."
The Business Rusch. Fiction writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch (4-13-11) on inaccurate e-book royalty statements issued by the Big Six traditional publishers, and a follow-up column a week later: Royalty Statements Update (4-20-11)
Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
• Filing a copyright application (for literary, artistic, dramatic and/or musical works)
• How your copyright application is processed
• A guide to copyrights (Canada)
• Copyright Registration in Canada (order this free guide from the Business Development Centre, a private firm)
The Business Rusch. Fiction writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch (4-13-11) on inaccurate e-book royalty statements issued by the Big Six traditional publishers, and a follow-up column a week later: Royalty Statements Update (4-20-11)
Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
• Filing a copyright application (for literary, artistic, dramatic and/or musical works)
• How your copyright application is processed
• A guide to copyrights (Canada)
• Copyright Registration in Canada (order this free guide from the Business Development Centre, a private firm)
Chilling Effects (clearinghouse that monitors the legal climate for Internet activity)
Circuit court rules that Salinger's character, Holden Caulfield, is copyrightable Andrew Albanese (PW,6-17-09), Temporary Restraining Order Issued in Salinger Case. An interesting article on several counts.
Circuit court rules that Salinger's character, Holden Caulfield, is copyrightable Andrew Albanese (PW,6-17-09), Temporary Restraining Order Issued in Salinger Case. An interesting article on several counts.
Clearance & Copyright: Everything You Need to Know for Film and Television by Michael Donaldson
Common Myths About Copyright (Marion Gropen, The Profitable Publisher)
Contract terms (book publishing)
• Improving Your Book Contract: Negotiation Tips for Nine Typical Clauses (Authors Guild). The Authors Guild provides free contract advice for members (sometimes with a bit of a wait)
• Wikipedia on Royalties. This long, informative entry contains a crystal-clear explanation of the $ difference between royalties on cover price and royalties on net. Scroll down to the chart labeled Book-publishing Royalties - "Net" and "Retail" Compared
• Negotiating Your Book Contract: 20 "Must" Topics to Talk About (Brenda Warneka, Absolute Write)
• Publishing Contract Checklist (Timothy Perrin, Right-Writing.com)
• Problems with Publishers' Contracts (Adler & Robin Books)
• Royalty calculations in book contracts (Ivan Hoffman, attorney)
• Getting Out of Your Book Contract (Maybe) (Victoria Strauss, Writer Beware 6-23-11).
• Contracts Watch (ASJA, focuses on newspaper and magazine contracts)
• Improving Your Book Contract: Negotiation Tips for Nine Typical Clauses (Authors Guild). The Authors Guild provides free contract advice for members (sometimes with a bit of a wait)
• Wikipedia on Royalties. This long, informative entry contains a crystal-clear explanation of the $ difference between royalties on cover price and royalties on net. Scroll down to the chart labeled Book-publishing Royalties - "Net" and "Retail" Compared
• Negotiating Your Book Contract: 20 "Must" Topics to Talk About (Brenda Warneka, Absolute Write)
• Publishing Contract Checklist (Timothy Perrin, Right-Writing.com)
• Problems with Publishers' Contracts (Adler & Robin Books)
• Royalty calculations in book contracts (Ivan Hoffman, attorney)
• Getting Out of Your Book Contract (Maybe) (Victoria Strauss, Writer Beware 6-23-11).
• Contracts Watch (ASJA, focuses on newspaper and magazine contracts)
Copyright Clearance Center ready to compete with AP’s News Licensing Group (Rick Edmonds, Poynter, 2-4-11). See also Why the music-licensing model won't save newspapers by Jeff Bercovici (Daily Finance, 6-4-09)
Copyright, Trademarks, and Protection Against Copying Names and Titles
• What does copyright protect (U.S. Copyright Office). Among questions answered on that site:
--How do I copyright a name, title, slogan or logo?
"Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 800-786-9199, for further information. However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark. "
--Can I copyright my domain name?
"Copyright law does not protect domain names. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit organization that has assumed the responsibility for domain name system management, administers the assignation of domain names through accredited registers. "
On the same website page, see also the answers to: How do I protect my recipe? Can I copyright the name of my band? How do I protect my idea? Can I get a star named after me and claim copyright to it?
• Trademark Law & Book Titles: How to Use Trademark Law to Create Multiple Passive Income Streams & Avert Legal Battles (Lloyd J. Jassin, CopyLaw.com)
• And Now, the Tricky Part: Naming Your Business (Emily Maltby, WSJ, 6-29-10) and Name Choices Spark Lawsuits (Emily Maltby, "Start-Ups Can Get Mired in Costly Trademark Scuffles With Bigger Firms," WSJ, 6-24-10)
• Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) about Domain Names and Trademarks (Chilling Effects)
• What does copyright protect (U.S. Copyright Office). Among questions answered on that site:
--How do I copyright a name, title, slogan or logo?
"Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 800-786-9199, for further information. However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark. "
--Can I copyright my domain name?
"Copyright law does not protect domain names. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit organization that has assumed the responsibility for domain name system management, administers the assignation of domain names through accredited registers. "
On the same website page, see also the answers to: How do I protect my recipe? Can I copyright the name of my band? How do I protect my idea? Can I get a star named after me and claim copyright to it?
• Trademark Law & Book Titles: How to Use Trademark Law to Create Multiple Passive Income Streams & Avert Legal Battles (Lloyd J. Jassin, CopyLaw.com)
• And Now, the Tricky Part: Naming Your Business (Emily Maltby, WSJ, 6-29-10) and Name Choices Spark Lawsuits (Emily Maltby, "Start-Ups Can Get Mired in Costly Trademark Scuffles With Bigger Firms," WSJ, 6-24-10)
• Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) about Domain Names and Trademarks (Chilling Effects)
Copyright Website and Copyright Wizard (private copyright-registration service owned by Benedict O'Mahoney). A few interesting links you might not find on the official copyright sites.
Creative Commons,a nonprofit organization that develops, supports, and stewards legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation (creators say which rights they reserve and which they waive, as alternatives to the "permission" culture and tight controls on rights to films and music). Here's the Creative Commons license. This Wikipedia entry is interesting for its discussion of the issues.
Digital Journalist's Legal Guide (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press). for anyone disseminating news online, from an independent blogger to a reporter for a major media outlet, as well as media lawyers.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, DMCA Takedown Notices, and Related Issues
• The $105 Fix That Could Protect You From Copyright-Troll Lawsuits (David Kravets, Wired, 10-27-10). "Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a website enjoys effective immunity from civil copyright liability for user content, provided they promptly remove infringing material at the request of a rightsholder. That’s how sites like YouTube are able to exist, and why Wired.com allows users to post comments to our stories without fear that a single user’s cut-and-paste will cost us $150,000 in court. But to dock in that legal safe harbor, a site has to, among other things, register an official contact point for DMCA takedown notices, a process that involves filling out a form and mailing a check" to the U.S. Copyright Office. Advises Kravets: "If you run a U.S. blog or a community site that accepts user content, you can register a DMCA agent by downloading this form (.pdf) and sending $105 and the form to Copyright RRP, Box 71537, Washington, D.C., 20024."
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (PDF, summary by U.S.Copyright Office).
• Wikipedia's explanation.
• Libraries in Today's Digital Age: The Copyright Controversy. ERIC Digest (a clear explanation)
• DMCA Safe Harbor (Chilling Effects)
• Frequently asked questions about DMCA Safe Harbor, including Question: So what is all the controversy about the DMCA?
• Online Service Providers (Copyright Office's explanation of who can acquire a Service Provider Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claims of Infringement. (Here's a Directory of Service Provider Agents for Notification of Claims of Infringement
• DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) Takes Away Rights for Libraries, Consumers (Sarah Andrews, Iowa Librarian, 2002)
• What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)? (Wise Geek)
• LC Unlocks Doors for Creators, Consumers with DMCA Exceptions (Beverly Goldberg, American Libraries 8-16-10)
• Copy protection software causes controversy (John McCormick, TechRepublic 11-7-05)
• What New DMCA Copyright Loopholes Mean to You (Emily Price, PCWorld 7-26-10)
• Digital Copyright listserv(Center for Intellectual Property, University of Maryland University College) • Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property Copyright Listserv • Liblicense-L mailing list (discussion of Electronic Content Licensing for Academic & Research Libraries, sponsored by Yale University Library) • NewsNet (newsletter, U.S. Copyright Office,, about copyright-related legislation and other activities) • CNI Copyright Archives (August 1992 - February 2007), old discussion list on copyright, intellectual property rights, and public access to information in digital age (sortable by date, name, thread, subject) • University of Albany links |
Documentary Filmmakers Win Exemption From Digital Millennium Copyright Act (PRWeb, 7-28-10). "Documentary Filmmakers Granted Access to Previously Off Limits DVD Content, Restoring Their Fair Use Rights" -- From the Library of Congress: Rulemaking on Exemptions from Prohibition on Circumvention of Technological Measures that Control Access to Copyrighted Works.
E-book rights. From where I sit, you can’t actually “sell” an ebook, an inportant Mike Shatzkin blog. His main point: Customers are not really buying those eBooks; they're licensing them. This has important implications for authors. When I buy a physical copy of a book, I can lend it to as many people as I want; I can't do that with an eBook, which is the clear sign that I've paid for a license to read, not a book. Publishers don't make that clear (in plain English), says Shatzkin, and should. This has important implications for publishing contracts, where royalties are paid on numbers of books sold (typically at a maximum of 15% per copy). Licensing of subsidiary rights (e.g., to book clubs) traditionally involves a 50-50 split in income, with half to the author and half to the publisher. Don't sign anything without full knowledge that you might be signing away substantial income. For more on this and related issues, see E-book rights, developments, conflicts, and struggles for market
The Editor's Interest (An American Editor, 3-1-11). "A question that sometimes arises, usually when an editor has difficulty getting paid for his or her work, is: What can the editor do to collect payment? I’ve been a long-time advocate of the position that the editor has a copyright interest in the edited version of the manuscript, a card that the editor should play in payment disputes."
Electronic Rights. Lloyd L. Rich's publaw piece on publishing agreements (grant of rights and royalty clauses) seems to be aimed at publishers but raises at least one issue authors and agents should also be pondering: Are electronic rights sales income, from which author gets a royalty, or subsidiary rights, meaning the publisher and author split the income?
Ellen DeGeneres Sued for Copyright Infringement (Allie, 9-11-09), the plaintiffs "alleging the production has used 'well over one thousand sound recording owned or controlled by Plaintiffs' without permission" during the segment when, to popular music, she dances over to her desk after her opening monologue
Fair Use (Stanford University Libraries' excellent chapter on fair use (free online).
Judges use four factors in resolving fair use disputes:
1) The Transformative Factor: The Purpose and Character of Your Use
2) The Nature of the Copyrighted Work
3) The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Taken
4) The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market
* The "Fifth" Fair Use Factor: Are You Good or Bad?)
Fair use or permissions on websites (Stanford University Libraries)
The 'Fair Use' Rule: When Use of Copyrighted Material Is Acceptable (Nolo, by Stephen Fishman?). Fair use factors are explained helpfully with these rules as headings:
Rule 1: Are You Creating Something New or Just Copying?
Rule 2: Are Your Competing With the Source You're Copying From?
Rule 3: Giving the Author Credit Doesn't Let You Off the Hook
Rule 4: The More You Take, the Less Fair Your Use Is Likely to Be
Rule 5: The Quality of the Material Used Is as Important as the Quantity
Fairly Used Blog (Stanford University Libraries).
Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) about Copyright and Fair Use (Chilling Effects Clearinghouse)
Fair Use Checklist (Cornell University's PDF file, to help you determine whether you may make or distribute copies of a copyrighted work without permission)
Fair Use and Permissions (links to Nolo articles on using copyrighted work)
Fair Use: What Every Writer Ought to Know (David L. Amkrau provides several scenarios illustrating what's likely to be infringement or fair use, guest-blogging on Joel Friedlander's TheBookDesigner.com)
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Scholarly Research in Communication (Center for Social Media, American University)
Chilling Effects' FAQ About Copyright and Fair Use . This pays more than ordinary attention to issues on the Web (e.g., "What is the look and feel of a site?" and "Does the fair use doctrine permit users to download MP3 files to make temporary copies of copyrighted sound recordings to 'sample' the music before deciding whether to purchase the recording?")
Educational Fair Use Today (PDF file, Jonathan Band, Association of Research Libraries). Fair use ruling more likely in educational setting where uses involved repurposing and recontextualization.
Study This: Copyright Law Hurts, Helps Economy (David Kravets, Wired, 9-13-07, a report on the "Fair Use Economy," which is good or bad, depending on which industry is reporting. On the one hand, "The report issued by the Computer & Communications Industry Association is concluding that one-sixth of the United States’ gross domestic product was spawned because of fair use exceptions recognized in copyright law." On the other, "Imagine how much GDP will expand, and how much revenue will be lost to pirating, once the Beatles recordings hit Apple’s iTunes Music Store."
[Go Top]
Judges use four factors in resolving fair use disputes:
1) The Transformative Factor: The Purpose and Character of Your Use
2) The Nature of the Copyrighted Work
3) The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Taken
4) The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market
* The "Fifth" Fair Use Factor: Are You Good or Bad?)
Fair use or permissions on websites (Stanford University Libraries)
The 'Fair Use' Rule: When Use of Copyrighted Material Is Acceptable (Nolo, by Stephen Fishman?). Fair use factors are explained helpfully with these rules as headings:
Rule 1: Are You Creating Something New or Just Copying?
Rule 2: Are Your Competing With the Source You're Copying From?
Rule 3: Giving the Author Credit Doesn't Let You Off the Hook
Rule 4: The More You Take, the Less Fair Your Use Is Likely to Be
Rule 5: The Quality of the Material Used Is as Important as the Quantity
Fairly Used Blog (Stanford University Libraries).
Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) about Copyright and Fair Use (Chilling Effects Clearinghouse)
Fair Use Checklist (Cornell University's PDF file, to help you determine whether you may make or distribute copies of a copyrighted work without permission)
Fair Use and Permissions (links to Nolo articles on using copyrighted work)
Fair Use: What Every Writer Ought to Know (David L. Amkrau provides several scenarios illustrating what's likely to be infringement or fair use, guest-blogging on Joel Friedlander's TheBookDesigner.com)
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Scholarly Research in Communication (Center for Social Media, American University)
Chilling Effects' FAQ About Copyright and Fair Use . This pays more than ordinary attention to issues on the Web (e.g., "What is the look and feel of a site?" and "Does the fair use doctrine permit users to download MP3 files to make temporary copies of copyrighted sound recordings to 'sample' the music before deciding whether to purchase the recording?")
Educational Fair Use Today (PDF file, Jonathan Band, Association of Research Libraries). Fair use ruling more likely in educational setting where uses involved repurposing and recontextualization.
Study This: Copyright Law Hurts, Helps Economy (David Kravets, Wired, 9-13-07, a report on the "Fair Use Economy," which is good or bad, depending on which industry is reporting. On the one hand, "The report issued by the Computer & Communications Industry Association is concluding that one-sixth of the United States’ gross domestic product was spawned because of fair use exceptions recognized in copyright law." On the other, "Imagine how much GDP will expand, and how much revenue will be lost to pirating, once the Beatles recordings hit Apple’s iTunes Music Store."
Fan Fiction (an explanation) and Frequently asked questions (and answers) about fan fiction (Chilling Effects Clearinghouse)
Faulkner vs. National Geographic's Effect on Author's Rights in Electronic Transfer (Allison Hundstad, Richmond Journal of Law & Technology, 2006). For those with the patience to read about copyright cases, analysis here starts on p. 9, which links the National Geographic case to the Google Book Search in terms of erosion of authors' rights, saying, "The Faulkner decision seems contrary to Congress’s purpose in creating the Copyright Act of 1976."
The Fine Art of Copyright (L. Gordon Crovitz, WSJ Opinion, 3-16-09). The "case of a photo-turned-poster of Barack Obama is a reminder that just because technology makes something possible doesn't make it right.
Fine Print Blurs Who's in Control of Online Photos (Joshua Brustein, NY Times 5-22-11)
50 Years of the Video Cassette Recorder (Sylvie Castonguay, WIPO Magazine 11-06). The technology that triggered the first "format wars" and raised new copyright questions, establishing jurisprudence on fair use. Check the links.
First-sale doctrine (Wikipedia entry). A few sample cases:
• Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises. Nation magazine scooped former President Gerald Ford's memoir on his account of his decision to pardon Nixon. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "fair use is not a defense to the appropriation of work by a famous political figure simply because of the public interest in learning of that political figure's account of an historic event."
• The Betamax Case (Museum of Broadcast Communications). How courts reasoned about the first-use doctrine in the decision on the American film industry's first legal response to the home video revolution: "time-shift" programming (copying a program to watch later, in the home) was fair use.
• Vernor v. Autodesk: Software and the First Sale Doctrine under Copyright Law (Marcelo Halpern, Yury Kapgan, and Kathy Yu) (Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, Vol.23, No. 3, March 2011). The Ninth Circuit ruled recently that "an individual who
purchased and then resold secondhand software was not the 'owner' of that copy of the software and therefore could not resell it when the license agreement accompanying the software restricted such resale."
The Fine Art of Copyright (L. Gordon Crovitz, WSJ Opinion, 3-16-09). The "case of a photo-turned-poster of Barack Obama is a reminder that just because technology makes something possible doesn't make it right.
Fine Print Blurs Who's in Control of Online Photos (Joshua Brustein, NY Times 5-22-11)
50 Years of the Video Cassette Recorder (Sylvie Castonguay, WIPO Magazine 11-06). The technology that triggered the first "format wars" and raised new copyright questions, establishing jurisprudence on fair use. Check the links.
First-sale doctrine (Wikipedia entry). A few sample cases:
• Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises. Nation magazine scooped former President Gerald Ford's memoir on his account of his decision to pardon Nixon. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "fair use is not a defense to the appropriation of work by a famous political figure simply because of the public interest in learning of that political figure's account of an historic event."
• The Betamax Case (Museum of Broadcast Communications). How courts reasoned about the first-use doctrine in the decision on the American film industry's first legal response to the home video revolution: "time-shift" programming (copying a program to watch later, in the home) was fair use.
• Vernor v. Autodesk: Software and the First Sale Doctrine under Copyright Law (Marcelo Halpern, Yury Kapgan, and Kathy Yu) (Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, Vol.23, No. 3, March 2011). The Ninth Circuit ruled recently that "an individual who
purchased and then resold secondhand software was not the 'owner' of that copy of the software and therefore could not resell it when the license agreement accompanying the software restricted such resale."
FOB (firms out of business) (www.fob-file.com)...a database of publishing, literary and other firms out of business -- that is, printing and publishing firms, magazines, literary agencies and similar organizations that no longer exist -- and, where possible. which successor organizations might own any surviving rights. More About FOB, which is run jointly by the Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas, Austin) and University of Reading Library.
For the Love of Culture: Google, copyright, and our future (Lawrence Lessig's fascinating long essay on the stranglehold copyright has on documentary film, and the implications of increasingly complex copyright laws for culture, New Republic, 1-26-10).
French Censorship: Copyright Laws, "Private Life," and Biography (Hazel Rowley, The American Scholar, Winter 2009)
Getty Images (& Other) Settlement Demand Letters. What to do when Getty sues you for infringement when you wrongly post an image on your website.
Giving Credit and Requesting Permission: Guidelines for Using Material Other Than Your Own (Tim O'Reilly, Chapter 7 from his book)
A Guide to Oral History and the Law by John A. Neuenschwander ((Oxford Oral History, with chapters on legal release agreements, subpoenas and FOIA requests, defamation, privacy issues, copyright, oral history on the Internet, institutional review boards (IRB), and duty to report a crime, with sample legal release forms, oral history evaluation guidelines (Oral History Association), and more.
Hands Off, It's Mine: The case for protecting original work from plagiarists and 'remixers' Jeremy Philips' WSJ article about Mark Helprin's Digital Barbarism: A Writer's Manifesto
How Do Music Pirates Get Caught? (Paul Gil, About.com)
How long does copyright last? From the U.S. Copyright Office: "The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule [bullets added}:
• For works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. (What happened to the "life plus 50 term": Senator Orrin Hatch’s Introduction of The Copyright Term Extension Act of 1997. Copyright on the Disney movies was going to expire and the Disney Studios wanted longer protection. Copyright, developed to protect authors and other "creators," was now also to serve the "copyright industries," which contribute so much to GDP.
• For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first.
• For works first published prior to 1978, the term will vary depending on several factors. To determine the length of copyright protection for a particular work, consult chapter 3 of the Copyright Act (title 17 of the United States Code).
• Works created on or after January 1, 1978, are not subject to renewal.
• How Can I Tell Whether a Copyright Was Renewed? (the Online Books Page, edited by John Mark Ockerbloom)
More information on the term of copyright can be found in Circular 15a, Duration of Copyright, and Circular 1, Copyright Basics.
The U.S. copyright office offers a search service to investigate whether a work is under copyright protection. Go here for a search request estimate (currently $165 per hour or fraction thereof, 2-hour minimum).
How long does copyright last? From the U.S. Copyright Office: "The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule [bullets added}:
• For works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. (What happened to the "life plus 50 term": Senator Orrin Hatch’s Introduction of The Copyright Term Extension Act of 1997. Copyright on the Disney movies was going to expire and the Disney Studios wanted longer protection. Copyright, developed to protect authors and other "creators," was now also to serve the "copyright industries," which contribute so much to GDP.
• For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first.
• For works first published prior to 1978, the term will vary depending on several factors. To determine the length of copyright protection for a particular work, consult chapter 3 of the Copyright Act (title 17 of the United States Code).
• Works created on or after January 1, 1978, are not subject to renewal.
• How Can I Tell Whether a Copyright Was Renewed? (the Online Books Page, edited by John Mark Ockerbloom)
More information on the term of copyright can be found in Circular 15a, Duration of Copyright, and Circular 1, Copyright Basics.
The U.S. copyright office offers a search service to investigate whether a work is under copyright protection. Go here for a search request estimate (currently $165 per hour or fraction thereof, 2-hour minimum).
Hyperlinks, Frames and Meta-Tags: An Intellectual Property Analysis (Jeffrey R. Kuester, Peter A. Nieves, PTC Research Foundation of the Franklin Pierce Law Center, 1998)
Indemnification Clauses
• How to Deal with Indemnification Clauses (ASJA position paper)
• Indemnification Repackaged (ASJA Contracts Watch)
Indemnification Clauses
• How to Deal with Indemnification Clauses (ASJA position paper)
• Indemnification Repackaged (ASJA Contracts Watch)
Integrated Circuitry Topography (Layout Designs) as trade-related intellectual property
• Appendix L of GATT, Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, U.S. Copyright Office
• Glossary definition, Canadian Intellectual Property Office
• Canadian Guide on the subject
• Appendix L of GATT, Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, U.S. Copyright Office
• Glossary definition, Canadian Intellectual Property Office
• Canadian Guide on the subject
Intellectual property is intangible property created by the mind, as distinguished from real property (land, buildings, and anything attached to the land) and personal property(tangible property not affixed to or associated with the land, such as a necklace or computer). The four basic systems for protecting intellectual property involve copyright, trademarks, service marks, and patents.
Medical ghostwriting, articles on ethical issues of
Moral rights
• Deconstructing Moral Rights (Cyrill P. Rigamonti, International Law Journal, 2006)
• Moral Rights Basics (Betsy Rosenblatt, Harvard Law School, 1998)
• Moral rights in the United States. Wikipedia, subsection of Moral rights (copyright law).
• Moral Rights of Authors in the USA (Ronald Standler, 1998). Basic message: The U.S. doesn't recognize moral rights that are strongly upheld elsewhere. "Some of these problems could be avoided by a carefully drafted contract," writes Standler. "However, in reality, any written contract is likely to be drafted by the stronger party and offered to the weaker party as a Hobson's choice, without the opportunity for bargaining. Such contracts might later be attacked as an "adhesion contract". The essence of the problem in most of the above situations is that all of the power and control is in the hands of the stronger party, who is then in a position to abuse or exploit the weaker party. A written contract is unable to change this imbalance of power, or the consequences that flow from the exploitation of the weaker party."
• A few things you should know about copyright. "The 'Moral Rights' are the right to a by-line or credit, and the right to object to distortion of your work," reads one line in item 8 in this interesting fact sheet from the London freelance branch of the National Union of Journalists (UK). Another sentence of interest: "You do have moral rights in, for example, a book - so long as it contains the magic phrase 'Moral Rights Asserted'."
• Deconstructing Moral Rights (Cyrill P. Rigamonti, International Law Journal, 2006)
• Moral Rights Basics (Betsy Rosenblatt, Harvard Law School, 1998)
• Moral rights in the United States. Wikipedia, subsection of Moral rights (copyright law).
• Moral Rights of Authors in the USA (Ronald Standler, 1998). Basic message: The U.S. doesn't recognize moral rights that are strongly upheld elsewhere. "Some of these problems could be avoided by a carefully drafted contract," writes Standler. "However, in reality, any written contract is likely to be drafted by the stronger party and offered to the weaker party as a Hobson's choice, without the opportunity for bargaining. Such contracts might later be attacked as an "adhesion contract". The essence of the problem in most of the above situations is that all of the power and control is in the hands of the stronger party, who is then in a position to abuse or exploit the weaker party. A written contract is unable to change this imbalance of power, or the consequences that flow from the exploitation of the weaker party."
• A few things you should know about copyright. "The 'Moral Rights' are the right to a by-line or credit, and the right to object to distortion of your work," reads one line in item 8 in this interesting fact sheet from the London freelance branch of the National Union of Journalists (UK). Another sentence of interest: "You do have moral rights in, for example, a book - so long as it contains the magic phrase 'Moral Rights Asserted'."
Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA, Wikipedia entry about a conditional safe harbor for online service providers)
The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions by Joy R. Butler, an entertainment and business attorney, on "using someone else's intellectual property for financial gain"
Piracy
• Some Thoughts About Piracy (Mike Shatzkin, Idealogue 11-25-09)
• Book Piracy: A Non-Issue (Paul Carr, TechCrunch 8-23-11). There is piracy (such as companies copying and selling books en masse) and there is nonpiracy (like borrowing books from the library)
• Kindle e-book piracy accelerates David Carnoy, C/NET 2-18-11). What's the dark side of the success of e-readers and e-books? In a word, piracy.
• Confessions of a Book Pirate (C. Max Magee, The Millions 1-25-10)
• What You Need to Know About SOPA in 2012 (that is, the Stop Online Piracy Act)
• Stop Online Piracy Act, text of the bill before Congress.
Plagiarism
• Copyright Infringement And A Medieval Apple Pie (Jane Smith, How Publishing Really Works) with thanks to Smith for these links:
• What Is Plagiarism?
• The Difference between Plagiarism, Piracy, and Copyright Infringement (Jackie Barbosa 11-4-10)
• Anti-Plagiarism Day (Jane Smith)
• Plagiarism Is a Community Issue
• Some Thoughts About Piracy (Mike Shatzkin, Idealogue 11-25-09)
• Book Piracy: A Non-Issue (Paul Carr, TechCrunch 8-23-11). There is piracy (such as companies copying and selling books en masse) and there is nonpiracy (like borrowing books from the library)
• Kindle e-book piracy accelerates David Carnoy, C/NET 2-18-11). What's the dark side of the success of e-readers and e-books? In a word, piracy.
• Confessions of a Book Pirate (C. Max Magee, The Millions 1-25-10)
• What You Need to Know About SOPA in 2012 (that is, the Stop Online Piracy Act)
• Stop Online Piracy Act, text of the bill before Congress.
Plagiarism
• Copyright Infringement And A Medieval Apple Pie (Jane Smith, How Publishing Really Works) with thanks to Smith for these links:
• What Is Plagiarism?
• The Difference between Plagiarism, Piracy, and Copyright Infringement (Jackie Barbosa 11-4-10)
• Anti-Plagiarism Day (Jane Smith)
• Plagiarism Is a Community Issue
Public domain. When do works of intellectual property enter the public domain (become copyright free)?
• When U.S. Works Pass into the Public Domain (Lolly Gasaway's wonderfully clear chart)
• Public Domain in the United States (Cornell Law's excellent chart on when copyright terms expire under various circumstances--published works, unpublished works, works by foreign nationals, sound recordings, architectural works, etc.)
• Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain (clever online comic book explanation of copyright law, by Keith Aoki, James Boyle, and Jennifer Jenkins, for the Duke Center for the Study of Public Domain)
• How Can I Tell When Copyright Was Renewed? ((the Online Books Page, edited by John Mark Ockerbloom)
• The U.S. copyright office offers a search service to investigate whether a work is under copyright protection. Go here for a search request estimate (currently $165 per hour or fraction thereof, 2-hour minimum). See also the entry How long does copyright last?
• When U.S. Works Pass into the Public Domain (Lolly Gasaway's wonderfully clear chart)
• Public Domain in the United States (Cornell Law's excellent chart on when copyright terms expire under various circumstances--published works, unpublished works, works by foreign nationals, sound recordings, architectural works, etc.)
• Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain (clever online comic book explanation of copyright law, by Keith Aoki, James Boyle, and Jennifer Jenkins, for the Duke Center for the Study of Public Domain)
• How Can I Tell When Copyright Was Renewed? ((the Online Books Page, edited by John Mark Ockerbloom)
• The U.S. copyright office offers a search service to investigate whether a work is under copyright protection. Go here for a search request estimate (currently $165 per hour or fraction thereof, 2-hour minimum). See also the entry How long does copyright last?
Random House Claims Digital Rights to Past Books (Jeffrey Trachtenberg, WSJ 12-12-09. If this link doesn't work, google the title and Nat Sobel and the full story may come up.) Random House claims that "the exclusive right to publish 'in book form' or 'in any and all editions'" includes digital rights. But Random House lost its 2002 suit to prevent RosettaBooks publish author-licensed e-book editions of works by William Styron, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Robert Parker. Agent Nat Sobel says courts have agreed with the position that contracts 20 years ago didn't include electronic rights. This is a big issue.
The Real Reason for Germany's Industrial Expansion? No Copyright Law (Frank Thadeusz, Spiegel Online, 8-18-10). Bet he gets some arguments?
Trademarks (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)
• Trademark FAQ (MarkLaw.com)
• Trademark Law (an overview, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University)
• FAQs, USPTO
• US Patent Office search engine
• Protecting Slogans (Ivan Hoffman)
• TESS tips (tips about the Trademark Electronic Search System, which contains the records of active and inactive trademark registrations and applications)
• Trademarks Basics Fact Sheets (International Trademark Association) and don't forget the Wikipedia entry.
• Trademark FAQ (MarkLaw.com)
• Trademark Law (an overview, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University)
• FAQs, USPTO
• US Patent Office search engine
• Protecting Slogans (Ivan Hoffman)
• TESS tips (tips about the Trademark Electronic Search System, which contains the records of active and inactive trademark registrations and applications)
• Trademarks Basics Fact Sheets (International Trademark Association) and don't forget the Wikipedia entry.
Updating Copyright Laws to Address Concerns of Google's Cached Page Service (Hal Abelson, Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier)
We Stole Your Pictures, Now We’re Going To Sue You. Photographer Daniel Morel posted news photos on Twitter, claiming exclusive photos; moments later a second photographer uploaded them to his TwitPic account and claimed them as his. Suit and countersuit filed, as photographer 2 sold photos to agencies, and Morel registered copyright so damages could be sizable.
WhichDraft.com (the blog) and WhichDraft.com (the forms), a self-directed legal resource (not legal advice!), for those who can't afford legal advice and can take advantage of this contract assembly web site (with multiple version tracking, comparison red lining, and online collaboration tools). We haven't tested it. Let us know if it works for you!
Why are there so many errors in The Anthology of Rap? The editors respond. It Was Written. Paul Devlin (Slate, 11-10-10) on how so many errors crept into this Yale University Press publication. (They apparently "leaned heavily" on material full of errors.)
Writers Guild of America West Registry (WGAWRegistry.org), the official script and screenplay registration service of the Writers Guild of America, West and "the world's number one intellectual property service." Mail them your script,and when they get it they seal it in an envelope, record the date and time, and send you a numbered certificate, which gives you a dated record of your claim to authorship of a particular literary material--useful in court should there be any unauthorized use of the work. They seem to accept nonscreenplay manuscripts as well.
Writers' Rights: Right? Jane Smith, blogging at How Publishing Really Works, reminds writers to master certain principles, including the difference between copyright and publishing rights and the difference between owning a thing and owning the copyright to it. See many useful links at end of article. See also: Copyright Day (Nicola Morgan, Help!I Need a Publisher!)and Let's Learn About Copyright: Get Blogging (Jane Smith)
Links below are arranged in this order:
• Clearing rights in the visual arts
• Clearing rights for music and sound
• Clearing rights in book publishing and the movie industry
See also the section on Fair Use (when it is okay to use material without requesting permission or clearing rights).
• Five Good Reasons to Clear Rights Properly and to Request Permission When Needed (Joy Butler, Guide Through the Legal Jungle), online
• The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions by Joy R. Butler, an entertainment and business attorney, on "using someone else's intellectual property for financial gain" -- very helpful if you're clearing many rights.
• Getting Permissions for Your Favorite Quote (Linda Blundell, WordSmitten on literary permissions research)
• Giving Credit and Requesting Permission Guidelines for Using Material Other Than Your Own (O'Reilly Media)
• FOB (firms out of business) (www.fob-file.com)...a database of publishing, literary and other firms out of business -- that is, printing and publishing firms, magazines, literary agencies and similar organizations that no longer exist -- and, where possible. which successor organizations might own any surviving rights. More About FOB, which is run jointly by the Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas, Austin) and University of Reading Library. The Harry Random Center also runs WATCH (Writers Artists and Their Copyright Holders), which a colleague tells me is a great idea but sadly out of date. The Authors Guild has tried to establish a similar database; I am not sure how good it is.
CLEARING RIGHTS IN THE VISUAL ARTS:
• American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), trade association for photographers whose work is available for publication. Note their pricing guides.
• Artists Rights Society provides support for copyright licensing and monitoring for over 50,000 visual artists and estates of visual artists, museums (painters, sculptors, photographers, architects, and so on)
• Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO)
• Art Resource (licensing reproduction rights for fine arts images)
• Cartoon syndicates include these two large organizations: Cartoon Stock and King Features (note difference between reprint rights and licensing)
• Design & Artists Copyright Society (DACS, UK)
• Photographers Index (for locating photographers worldwide)
• Photography Registry (helps locate photographers so you can clear rights with them)
• Visual Arts and Galleries Association (VAGA)
• Intellectual Property and the Arts (College Art Association)
• The MILE Project's Step-by-Step Guide to Clearing Rights for Digital Image Users. (MILE: Metadata Image Library Exploitation. The MILE Project "wants to make art available to everyone by improving metadata."
CLEARING RIGHTS FOR MUSIC AND SOUND
Clearing rights for music is not for sissies. There are probably separate copyrights for the music and lyrics, not to mention synchronization rights (to embed copyrighted music in an audio-visual production), public performance licenses, and so on. Try searching the ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and BMI song title databases by song, title, songwriter, or publisher for information on songs and songwriters registered with these performing rights societies (liner notes on music may tell you to which society a writer belongs). If you don't find a songwriter registered with ASCAP, check with BMI or SESAC. Songs that are not represented by ASCAP may be represented by the National Music Publishers Association. BMI and SESAC handle some rights, and the Harry Fox Agency (the chief music licensing agency) collects royalties from recording rights for most publishers. These organizations may be helpful in different ways:
• AARC (Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies) (protecting the rights of featured artists and sound recording companies in the areas of home recording and rental rights)
• ASCAP (clearing rights for music and lyrics). See How to clear music for films and other and other frequently asked questions about ASCAP licensing
• BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated).
• The Difference Between ASCAP and BMI (informative video interview with Todd Braher. One of many really helpful explanations on site of Artists House Music (helping musicians and music entrepreneurs create sustainable careers). Check out featured articles and video interviews
• Harry Fox Agency (HFA). Click on "Songfile" for online song search and mechanical licensing tool, for if you want to make 2,500 or fewer copies of a recording as a CD, cassette, LP, or digital download)
• IMRO (Irish Music Rights Organisation)
• NMPA (National Music Publishers' Association)
• PD Info (a site to help you identify public domain songs and music, royalty-free music you can license, and public domain sheet music reprints)
• SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and Composers),performing rights organization
• 615 Music (where video people can get a blanket license to use songs from a 200 CD set of professional music)
• Sound Exchange, collects and distributes digital performance royalties for featured recording artists and sound recording copyright owners (usually a record label) when their sound recordings are performed on digital cable and satellite television
• Zoom License(music licensing for videography and digital imaging). See more at site of
Wedding and Event Videographers Association International (WEVA.com), professional wedding and event videographers
• Frequently asked questions about public domain music.
• Music Licensing for Museums (PDF factsheet, American Association of Museums)
I don't personally know how useful this fairly costly book is: The Mini-Encyclopedia of Public Domain Songs by Barbara Zimmerman (1998)
CLEARING RIGHTS for BOOKS, SCRIPTS, SCREENPLAYS, ETC.
• Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS, United Kingdom)
• The Authors Registry (find authors)
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
• Christian Copyright Licensing International
• Copyright Clearance Center (academic and business rights licensing)
• Creative Commons (simple, standardized alternatives to the “all rights reserved” paradigm of traditional copyright)
• Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. (professional association of American playwrights)
• Dramatists Play Service, Inc (rights for plays and musicals)
• FOB (Firms Out of Business), a database of publishing, literary and other firms out of business, run jointly by the Harry Ransom Center and University of Reading Library
• Hollywood Creative Directory (contact info for the film, television and new media industries)
• Locating copyright holders (Lloyd J. Jassin, Copylaw.com)
• Movie Licensing USA (get license to show copyrighted movies in your school or library -- legally)
• Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (MPLC) (offers a blanket license for the noncommercial exhibition of movies -- to corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations)
• Publishers Marketplace (find agents, editors, publishers, packagers and writers)
• Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization (rights for live plays)
• Samuel French (rights for plays and musicals)
• Search copyright records
• WATCH (Writers, Artists and Their Copyright Holders, run jointly by the Harry Ransom Center and University of Reading Library.
• Writers Guild of America, West (WGA), which provides a valuable service: WGAWRegistry.org, WGA's official script and screenplay registration service
Getting releases signed in advance
When you are taping an interview or performance, or taking photos, or otherwise recording images for later use in a publicaiton or production, be sure to read up first on which releases it makes sense to get in advance -- as you are conducting the interview or taking the picture, etc. I've provided links to some sample release forms below, but this is just to give you a sense of what is needed. You may want to consult a lawyer or at the very least a good professional organization or reference. (If I were doing photos, for example, I would consider joining ASMP, which does good rights education.) Among rights you do not want to violate: rights of privacy (using a nonpublic person's private information or images) or rights of publicity (using a person's image, voice, likeness, or name in a commercial endeavor); in some cases, rights of trademark; and of course claims of libel or slander (depending on what you record or photograph them doing), as well as claims of misuse of content.
Permissions and Releases
• Permission form for reprinting illustrations (Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Press)
• PROPERTY AND MODEL RELEASES (by Richard Weisgrau and Victor S. Perlman, ASMP, for images of real estate or personal property, including cars, pets, and works of art) and Why you need photo releases in advance(ASMP on rights of privacy, publicity, property, etc.)
• What's in a Release (ASMP)
• Model Release for Adults (ASMP)
• Model Release for a Minor Child (aSMP
• Permission form for reprinting illustrations (Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Press)
• Sample talent release form, for video and other recordings (MediaCollege.com)
• Sample interview release form for oral history interviews (Smithsonian, FolkLife)
• Sample Model Release Form (Maine.gov)
Links to other resources on Writers and Editors website
Authors Guild reports S&S rights grab:
Simon & Schuster has changed its standard contract language in an attempt to retain exclusive control of books even after they have gone out of print. Until now, Simon & Schuster, like all other major trade publishers, has followed the traditional practice in which rights to a work revert to the author if the book falls out of print or if its sales are low.
The publisher is signaling that it will no longer include minimum sales requirements for a work to be considered in print. Simon & Schuster is apparently seeking nothing less than an exclusive grant of rights in perpetuity. Effectively, the publisher would co-own your copyright.
The new contract would allow Simon & Schuster to consider a book in print, and under its exclusive control, so long as it’s available in any form, including through its own in-house database -- even if no copies are available to be ordered by traditional bookstores.
Other major trade publishers are not seeking a similar perpetual grant of rights.
We urge you to consider your options carefully:
1. Remember that if you sign a contract with Simon & Schuster that includes this clause, they’ll say you’re wed to them. Your book will live and die with this particular conglomerate.
2. Ask your agent to explore other options. Other publishers are not seeking an irrevocable grant of rights.
3. If you have a manuscript that may be auctioned, consider asking your agent to exclude Simon & Schuster imprints unless they agree before the auction to use industry standard terms.
4. Let us know if other major publishers follow suit. Any coordination among publishers on this matter has serious legal implications.
Feel free to forward and post this message in its entirety.
The Authors Guild (www.authorsguild.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest organization of published book authors.
Links to other resources on Writers and Editors website
Google Book Settlement (Pro and Con)
Here below are links to discussions of various issues and various positions (pro and con) on the book settlement. For now, we have a decision and some reactions:
• Judge Denny Chin’s 48-page decision on the proposed settlement of the Google litigation, released March 22, 2011
• Dreaming of a Virtual Library: Authors Guild v. Google (Scott Turow, Authors Guild, in letter to the editor, New York Times 4-6-11). (The day of decision: Scott Turow (Authors Guild) on Google Ruling
• Judge Rejects Google Books Settlement (Amir Efrati, WSJ, 3-22-11)
• TeleRead's summary of the bases for Judge Chin's decision (Paul Biba, TeleRead 3-22-11)
• Judge rejects Google's attempt to create a universal library (Laurie Segall, CNN Money 3-22-2011).
"Google's settlement agreement is a complex, 166-page document. While the company took pains to protect the rights of copyright holders -- only tiny snippets are revealed from in-print books -- it put the burden on authors and publishers to police their works' inclusion in the archive. Google will remove books on request, but without an explicit request, it will otherwise digitize anything it can get hold of."
"That didn't sit well with Judge Chin. He also expressed concern over the agreement's handling of 'orphaned' books -- works that are still under copyright, but no longer in print.
"'The questions of who should be entrusted with guardianship over orphan books, under what terms, and with what safeguards are matters more appropriately decided by Congress than through an agreement among private, self-interested parties,' Chin wrote in his ruling."
• Google Books: Headed for the Bonfire? (Erik Sherman, BNET Wired In blog, 3-23-11, which links to his earlier posts). Sherman writes: "The two sides negotiated a highly controversial settlement that drew extensive criticism from the Department of Justice, including the following:
* "Class action suits generally address past actions. This one allowed Google to display copyrighted works in the future for anyone who did not opt out of the agreement.
* "It seemed questionable that any representative could adequately represent all rights owners, especially those who were unreachable but who owned rights to books that were under copyright protection but out of print.
* "Google needed active permission to use the in-print works but not out-of-print. Rights owners that did not claim money within five years would forfeit their money to those already registered. So the deal was stacked in the favor of those with rights to books currently in print, even though Google wanted to scan and display the out-of-print books."
• Google's Book Deal (Times editorial, 3-30-11)
• Google Book Search Settlement Agreement
-- More to come
___________________________________
There are HUGE issues involved in this book settlement (see especially Mary Beth Peters on the dangers of changing copyright law about orphan works through litigation rather than legislation). This kind of issue may give you a headache, but you should read up on it if you have ever written and published a book. Deadline for filling out the Google Book Settlement Claim form (which is not user-friendly) has been extended. The court overseeing Authors Guild v. Google extended the time for authors and publishers to opt out of the settlement by four months, to September 4th (Judge Chin's order). The fairness hearing will be on October 7th. Check out Kristine Smith's instructions for filling out the form (link below). See also links to stories about Orphan Works legislation.
The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers support the agreement. Among those who oppose it are Mary Beth Peters, U.S. Register of Copyrights, calls the settlement "a compulsory license for the benefit of one company," and believes it's the wrong way to go about handling the "orphan works" issue. Orphan works are copyrighted works for whom the rights-holders cannot be identified or located -- the very rights-holders who are also unlikely to come forward and opt out of the settlement. As Brewster Kahle writes, summing up objections of others: "Google would get an explicit, perpetual license to scan and sell access to these in-copyright but out-of-print orphans, which make up an estimated 50 to 70 percent of books published after 1923. No other provider of digital books would enjoy the same legal protection.... We need to focus on legislation to address works that are caught in copyright limbo. And we need to stop monopolies from forming so that we can create vibrant publishing environments."
"In the short run," concludes intellectual property expert Pamela Samuelson, "the Google Book Search settlement will unquestionably bring about greater access to books collected by major research libraries over the years. But it is very worrisome that this agreement, which was negotiated in secret by Google and a few lawyers working for the Authors Guild and AAP (who will, by the way, get up to $45.5 million in fees for their work on the settlement—more than all of the authors combined!), will create two complementary monopolies with exclusive rights over a research corpus of this magnitude. Monopolies are prone to engage in many abuses.
"The Book Search agreement is not really a settlement of a dispute over whether scanning books to index them is fair use. It is a major restructuring of the book industry’s future without meaningful government oversight. The market for digitized orphan books could be competitive, but will not be if this settlement is approved as is."
~ conclusion from Legally Speaking: The Dead Souls of the Google Booksearch Settlement by Pamela Samuelson (O'Reilly Radar, 4-17-09)
The SFWA statement (see below) provides another clear outline of objections to the settlement. Those who object may want to sign Ursula LeGuin's Petition Letter to the Judge of the Google Book Settlement (to be sent to Judge Chin by January 28th, 2010, attached as an exhibit to the brief to be submitted to the court by the NWU, ASJA, and SFWA, who oppose the settlement).
One member of ASJA, encouraged to sign LeGuin's petition, responded: "I can't sign the petition because I do not agree. I feel the agreement is useful and worthwhile. It verifies that Google's preemptive scanning was wrong and prevents others from going about it the same way. It sets up a best practices standard and mechanism for the transition from print to digital publishing. I respect the people who oppose the settlement and I know they have put much thought and concern into the matter. But I have not found their arguments convincing."
So, should you have opted out? Here are a few of the last-minute aids to decision-making that ASJA posted for its members at the time of the January 2010 deadline for opting out:
• Here's where to opt out: Google Book Settlement (you no longer have to list all your works).
• GBS frequently asked questionshttp://www.googlebooksettlement.com/help/bin/answer.py?answer=118704&hl=en
• Here is an explanation of your options by law professor Pamela Samuelson of UC Berkeley (who objected to the settlement, hoping to make the settlement deal fairer for academic authors).
• Here are some of the objection letters, posted on The Public Index.
• Here is a webcast of a Jan. 20 panel workshop in New York, which ASJA cosponsored with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the National Writers Union, and the Internet Society. Speakers are NYU Law professor James Grimmelmann, AG executive director Paul Aiken, Lynn Chu of Writers Reps LLC, with Ed Hasbrouck of NWU, Salley Shannon of ASJA, and Michael Capobianco of SFFW. Webcast (video and audio). This is DEFINITELY WORTH LISTENING TO:http://www.isoc-ny.org/?p=1282 and podcast (audio only): http://punkcast.com/1704/1704/1704_google_books.mp3.
• Here's a podcast of a similar event in Berkeley, with Pamela Samuelson, the law professor, and Ed Hasbrouck (NWU's book division co-chair):http://punkcast.com/1704/sf/NWU-GBS-Berkeley-22JAN2010.mp3.
Here is the Justice Department's Feb. 4, 2010, statement: Despite Substantial Progress Made, Issues Remain. And here's the New York Times on the Justice Department's statement(Miguel Helft, 2-10-10): "In a 31-page filing that could influence a federal judge’s ruling on the settlement, the department said the new agreement was much improved from an earlier version. But it said the changes were not enough to placate concerns that the deal would grant Google a monopoly over millions of orphan works, meaning books whose right holders are unknown or cannot be found.
"The department also indicated that the revised agreement, like its predecessor, appeared to run afoul of authors’ copyrights and was too broad in scope.
"The revised agreement 'suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement: it is an attempt to use the class-action mechanism to implement forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute before the court in this litigation,' the department wrote."
Here's the Authors Guild response:( To RIAA or Not to RIAA, That was the Question), explaining why they didn't press litigation through to the end. AG cites the Pyrrhic court victories of the Recording Industry Association of America and the collapse of the music industry. "The ace in the hole for musicians is that they're not as dependent on copyright as book authors are. Music is a performing art: people buy tickets to see musicians. Writing is decidedly not a performing art. Nearly all authors give away their performances, through book tours and readings, and are glad for any audience they can find. For most authors, markets created by copyright are all we've got.Protecting authors' interests has always been our top priority: in this case a timely harnessing of Google was the best way to do it."
The following links are to explanations, arguments, etc., that have been available for some time:
• American Library Association's files on the Google Book Settlement. Information for the library community--links to news, to A Guide for the Perplexed: Libraries and the Google Library Project Settlement, and much more
• Authors Guild v. Google Settlement Resources Page (AG)
• Authors Guild Memo to Agents and Authors: William Morris's Google Memo Off Target. AG corrects both Morris memo and various myths circulating about the settlement. AG says that by staying in the settlement you aren't limited to the (quite favorable) royalty rate we've negotiated; you have the right to veto your publisher's decision to make your in-print book available in any way through the settlement; you have the right to block all displays of your out-of-print books, even if rights haven't reverted to you, even if your publisher wants to display the books; you have the right to have your work in Google's searchable database and display only snippets to users, blocking all other uses by Google; you have the right to change your mind (allow books you'd previously blocked to be displayed; block books you'd previously allowed to be displayed) at any time. Do read this one.
• Google Book Search Settlement Notice for Authors and Other Rightsholders. There's a page here for opting out of the settlement; the deadline for opting out is Sept. 4, 2009. The Final Fairness Hearing is Oct. 7, 2009. If you opt out, you may want to read this overview of the Google Books Partner Program, one alternative that allows you to be part of the Google action.
• Google Books Settlement FAQ
• Public Index (an open archive of documents filed with the court, including objections. Scott E. Gant's objection is particularly cogent.
• Justia (a second site of open access to documents filed on the case in Federal District court)
• The Laboratorium: New White Paper on Settlement Objections (clarified by James Grimmelman of New York University)
• ASJA joints groundswell of opposition to Google Book settlement
• The best bit of the Google Book Settlement (access to the scholar's treasure trove of out-of-print books), Nate Anderson, Ars Technica
• Bill Keller's Best Frenemy (John Koblin, The New York Observer, 5-19-09, on Google's Relationship with NY Times)
• A book grab by Google (Brewster Kahle, Washington Post, 5-19-09)
• Chilling effect of Google tracking your online book browsing (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
• Consumer Group Protests Google Settlement (Jim Milliot, PW, on Consumer Watchdog asking for delay on settlement because of orphan works issue and "most favored nation" clause)
• DOJ Inquiry Over Book Deal Puts Google on Notice (Sam Gustin, wired.com)
• European Opposition Mounts Against Google’s Selling Digitized Books (Kevin J. O'Brien and Eric Pfanner NYTimes, 8-23-09)
• # Federal District Court Filings (Author's Guild vs. Google, 2005-2009)
• 5 Ways the Google Book Settlement Will Change the Future of Reading. (Annalee Newitz, io9 Publishing, 4-2-10). An interesting summary from Gawker's science fiction/futurist blog about the implications of the settlement,only one highlight from which is quoted here:
"The Google Book Settlement could easily be the twenty-first century's most important shift in how we deal with copyright in the world of publishing. To understand it, you need a little back story on the previous giant shift in copyright law, which happened about twelve years ago.
* "Mickey Mouse Protection Act. In 1998, copyright was turned on its head by a piece of legislation often called the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act.Known to policy-makers as the Copyright Extension Act, it was the result of intensive lobbying by the entertainment industry, led in part by Disney, to extend the copyright on any work created after 1923. Many of Disney's classic pieces of content, like Mickey Mouse cartoons, were about to pass into the public domain. So the company was naturally interested in keeping control of the Mouse as long as it could....The Act also gave birth to a loosely organized but powerful movement of copyright reformists....Over the past decade, many of these reformists migrated to jobs in Silicon Valley, where easily-copied digital media are constantly forcing the question of what copyright really means in the information age.
One might say that the Google Book Settlement (GBS) is the result of this migration." Read on here.
• Google and Book Publishers Settle (Andrés Guadamuz, WIPO Magazine, July 2009)
• Google Book Settlement Administrative Site
• European publishers target Google (Richard Waters, Ben Hall, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Financial Times, 8-12-09, on strong European opposition to the settlement) Free reqistration required
• Google's Book Search: A Disaster for Scholars (Geoffrey Nunberg, Chronicle of Higher Education, 3-31-09). Nunberg writes:
"...50 or 100 years from now control of the collection may pass from Google to somebody else—Elsevier, Unesco, Wal-Mart. But it's safe to assume that the digitized books that scholars will be working with then will be the very same ones that are sitting on Google's servers today, augmented by the millions of titles published in the interim.
"That realization lends a particular urgency to the concerns that people have voiced about the settlement —about pricing, access, and privacy, among other things. But for scholars, it raises another, equally basic question: What assurances do we have that Google will do this right?
"Doing it right depends on what exactly 'it' is. Google has been something of a shape-shifter in describing the project. The company likes to refer to Google's book search as a 'library,' but it generally talks about books as just another kind of information resource to be incorporated into Greater Google."
and later:
"...to pose those [research] questions, you need reliable metadata about dates and categories, which is why it's so disappointing that the book search's metadata are a train wreck: a mishmash wrapped in a muddle wrapped in a mess."
Read the whole Chronicle story here.
• Google Books Settlement at Columbia, Part 1 (Mary Minow, LibraryLaw Blog,reporting 3-15-09 on a conference at Columbia University on The Google Books Settlement: What will it mean for the long term?)
• Google Books Settlement at Columbia, Part 2 (Mary Minow, LibraryLaw Blog)
• Google's Book Settlement Is a Ripoff for Authors: Why allow a single publisher to throw out a functioning copyright system? ? Lynn Chu's piece in the Wall Street Journal and a letter to the editor in response from Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild: The Google Book Deal Will Help, Not Hurt, Authors, which points out essential errors in Chu's piece. Anita Bartholomew, in turn, says the Authors Guild is providing false information.
• Google Books Settlement Conference: What Will It Mean for the Long Term? (recording of conference of experts held at The Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts available for viewing online)
• Google Book Deal in DOJ Sights (Erik Sherman, BNET, 6-11-09)
• Google Book Search settlement gives Google a virtual monopoly over literature (Cory Doctorow, Boingboing, 4-17-09)
• Google Faces Antitrust Investigation for Agreement to Digitize Millions of Books Online (transcript of Brewster Kahle, founder of Internet Archive, and Amy Goodman on Democracy Now Radio)
• Google Hopes to Open a Trove of Little-Seen Books (Motoko Rich, New York Times, 1-4-09, on Google's massive book scan and search project)
• Google Loses in French Copyright Case (Matthew Saltmarsh, NY Times, 12-18-09). Paris court rules against Google after publisher argues the industry is being exploited by Google's Book Search program, launched in 2005.
• The Google settlement, answering some of the questions about the windfall (Mike Shatzkin 4-18--09)
• Google settlement: What the Google Settlement Means for Authors and Publishers (Jonathan Kirsch, IBPA, 2-09)
• Google Slammed by Photographers’ Class Action (Erik Sherman, B-Net, 4-7-10). The American Society of Media Photographers — with the Graphic Artists Guild, Picture Archive Counsel of America, North American Nature Photography Association, and Professional Photographers of America — filed a class-action copyright infringement suit, alleging that Google failed to obtain permission to scan and display books from people who owned rights to photographs and illustrations that appear in the titles.
• Google’s Plan for Out-of-Print Books Is Challenged (Miguel Helft, NY Times, 4-3-09)
• Google's tangled quest for a universal online library (Farhad Manjoo, Slate, 5-6-09, Your Search Returned 12 Million Books) -- calls on authors and publishers to grant Google's competitors the same rights they're giving Google, to create a truly vibrant market for books
• Google to cut the e-book middleman (Stan Schroeder, Mashable)
• How to fill out the Google Book Settlement claim form (PDF file of instructions by example, compliments of Kristine Smith, chair of the digital rights management committee of Novelists Inc, via NASW)
• How to fix the Google Book Search Settlement (PDF of James Grimmelmann's article in Journal of Internet Law)
• How to understand the objections just filed in the Google settlement (Anita Bartholomew, Ask the Editor, who writes:
"it’s as if Search Engine X infringed my copyright but not yours. But in settling the case, I made a deal with Search Engine X that it could have your future rights along with mine, in exchange for something else I wanted. Do you think it would be fair for you to be forced into such a deal? I don’t either. And, aside from a dozen other arguments that could be made, I hope that Judge Chin recognizes the inherent injustice of such a deal and stops it right there.")
• Internet Archive's objection to the Google Book Settlement ("give other companies that have scanned printed books the same copyright protection of orphan works that would be granted to Google in the settlement"), as reported in PW by Jim Milliot
• In Google book settlement, business trumps ideals (Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service, PC News)
• It’s Not Just Microsoft That’s Balking at Google’s Book Plans (Miguel Helft, NY Times, 4-4-09)
• Judge Issues 4-Month Delay in Google Book Search Settlement (Ryan Singel, Wired.com)
• Justice Department Seeks Information From Publishers on Pact to Make Text Available Online (WSJ, "Probe of Google Book Deal Heats Up," 6-10-09)
• Justice Dept. Opens Antitrust Inquiry Into Google Books Deal *Miguel Helft, NY Times, 4-28-09)
• Kernochan Center Conference Scrutinizes the Google Books Settlement (in four parts)
• Lawyer and Author Adds His Objections to Settling the Google Book Lawsuit (Miguel Helft and Motoko Rich, NY Times, 8-18-09: Scott E. Gant "argues that the agreement, which gives Google commercial rights to millions of books without having to negotiate for them individually, amounts to an abuse of the class-action process. He also contends that it does not sufficiently compensate authors and does not adequately notify and represent all the authors affected.")
• Libraries weigh in with worries on Google's book settlement (John Timmer, Ars Technica, 5-5-09)
• Lynn Chu: Agent Unplugged, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett's interview with this principal of Writers' Representatives LLC in the public part of the January 2010 issue of ASJA Monthly, is as helpful an analysis of what authors should know about their rights in the new electronic world as you are likely to read. It starts on pp. 6-7 of this PDF file,then jumps to p. 13. Print those pages out and mark them up! Her comments on the Google Book Settlement appear on p. 13, and her most valuable comments are on how book publishers are trying to becoming licensing agents for e-rights while taking a print publishers' share of income and without doing what a licensing agent ought to do, and since authors will very quickly learn how much they can do without the publishers, they are playing a dangerous game.
• **Mary Beth Peters, Register of Copyrights, on the Google Books Settlement (as reported by Mary Minow, LibraryLaw Blog, reporting 3-15-09 on a conference at Columbia University on The Google Books Settlement: What will it mean for the long term?)
• Open Book Alliance: Diverse Coalition Unites To Counter Google Book Settlement. "One of the most significant developments in the history of publishing could be co-opted by the settlement of a class action lawsuit that creates an unprecedented monopoly and price fixing cartel," write Peter Brantley and Gary Reback in Open the Book on the Open Book Alliance blog. They claim the ettlement is bad for consumers and book-lovers; is bad for libraries and schools; is bad for authors and small publishers; and sets a dangerous and unprecedented process precedent.
• Opposition to Google Books Settlement Jells (Miguel Helft, Bits, NY Times, 4-17-09)
• Opting out of the Google Book Settlement, Pro and Con (Slashdot)
• Pros and cons of the Google book deal (David Weinberger, KMWorld, covering content, document, and knowledge management)
• The Public Index (a site to study, discuss, browse, and annotate the settlement, section by section)
• PublishersLunch on the settlement, citing various foreign publishers and Amazon. Amazon's objection is that it is anticompetitive and amounts to price fixing; PL points out that Amazon fears a competitor with overhwelming power. "Among the objections repeated by many of the filers from abroad are assertions of problems in providing notice to class members around the world; failures to translate the entire settlement into other languages and inadequate translation of key legal terms such as "work for hire" for countries where such legal terms of art do not exist; errors in the books database that have made it difficult for rightsholders to identify all of their works; undue burdens in the process of having to opt out for historical lines of thousands of titles; and broadly incorrect classification of works in other languages as commercially unavailable."
• A Raw Deal for Libraries (Open Content Alliance--an interesting discussion)
• Scanning the Horizon of Books and Libraries (Amy Goodman, Truthdig, 9-29-09)
• Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America statement on proposed Google book settlement. This is one of the easiest to understand statements against the settlement, covering issues of particular importance to fiction writers, and these: "the settlement makes no distinction, nor does it provide a mechanism for discovering the difference, between works deemed out-of-print and works in the public domain"; the AG and AAP "are poor representatives of the class as neither represents the types of work perhaps most significantly affected by the settlement, namely scholarly works"; the "'opt-out' mechanism proposed for the settlement contradicts the very foundation of copyright; the "the class does not reflect the interested parties, primarily the holders of copyrights in 'orphan works' where the rightsholder(s) cannot be identified or found."
• Some Fear Google’s Power in Digital Books (Noam Cohen, NY Times, Link by Link 2-1-09)
• Steinbeck Heirs Seek to Slow Google Books Settlement (Miguel Helft, NY Times, 4-27-09)
• Thousands of authors opt out of Google book settlement (Alison Flood, Guardian, 2-23-10)
• What the Google settlement means for publishers and authors (Jonathan Kirsch, IBPA, 2-09)
• Where to get a better deal than the Google Settlement? From Google (Anita Bartholomew).
• Who's Messing With the Google Book Settlement? Hint: They're in Redmond, Washington (Steven Levy, Wired, 3-31-09), points out that Microsoft helped fund Grimmelmann.)
• Why the Google Settlement Matters to You (pdf file, Access, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency)
• William Morris Agency Advises Clients to Say No to Google Settlement (Motoko rich, NY Times, 8-7-09). See William Morris's Google Memo Off Target on Authors Guild site.
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