[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[BKARTS] Copyright
I was wondering what the legality of buying current hardback copies
of books such as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter books, stripping
them down to the text block, then custom binding them for resale
would be.
As an author, I know something about copyright.
Here's a short answer, published on the school library journal in 2007.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6463495.html
One factor depends on where the book was originally published. As it
says in the article the copyright wording is different in different
countries. U. S. copyright law has some protections for artists to
prevent any alteration of their art. For a book published in the U.
S., it is not illegal to alter the book, but it is illegal to
distribute the altered book; hence, selling is illegal. You can,
probably, make a single personal copy as your own art, but not sell
it. There has never been a test case about this and it would be
interesting to see if the law would treat a book differently if the
content was still recognizable; that is, you could still read parts
of the book, versus one that had been completely covered by primer,
paint, and embellishments so that the book had essentially become
only the substrate.
If the original copyright was in any country that includes "moral
right" in their copyright phraseology, then the author (or other
copyright holder) has a legal right to prosecute if the format of a
book is altered in any way. Judgment of copyright violation would be
up to the judge in the course of the trial.
Sharon Wildwind
www.wildwindauthor.com
***********************************************
For all your subscription questions, go to the
Book_Arts-L FAQ and Archive.
See <http://www.philobiblon.com> for full information.
NOW ONLINE, The Bonefolder, Vol. 5, No. 1, Fall 2008 at
<http://www.philobiblon.com/bonefolder>
***********************************************