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6charlong · 05-30-2008, 12:52 PM

Here’s how I see the problem:

Suppose you think Marc Bloch’s 1940 book (called, in English) _Strange Defeat_ is an important book and should be more widely available to scholars and available to anyone trying to understand the world. You want to publish it as an eBook so scholars can store it on their PCs and use it to research World War II, resistance movements, the uses and limits of intelligence gathering in war, ethics and war, the impact of mechanized mobility in war, etc. Who do you go to if you want to publish it as an eBook?

It was published in the US by W. W. Norton & Company, as a paperback, “by arrangement with Oxford University Press.” It has an introduction by Sir Maurice Powicke and a forward by Georges Altman. It was translated from the French by Gerard Hopkins, and written, of course, by Marc Bloch but kept hidden until after the Nazis were gone. Also, who owns the French copyright? Marc Bloch was murdered in 1944 and never received anything, not even recognition, for this work.

Here’s a proposed solution:

Governments should use new technology to resolve the issue. Why can’t they establish an on-line database of copyrights, give copyright holders a reasonable period to declare those copyrights they wish to preserve by inputting the copyright information to the database. If the publisher fails to declare a copyright then the author (or his/her estate) should be allowed a reasonable length of time to repossess the copyright to their own work. Copyrights to works that no one declares would be revoked: that is, would revert to the public domain.

The database would have to contain the type of copyright being declared, including such things as “Available in all forms and formats,” “available in English as paperback only,” “copyrighted in the public domain,” etc., indicating the copyright by nation. Then when someone wants to make a new edition of a book, play, song, etc., they can contact the copyright holder or, where feasible, find out where to send payments to the copyright holder for any work the publisher/copyright holder chose not to republish themselves. After all, the public purpose for granting copyrights is to encourage development of the arts and sciences.

As complicated as this sounds, it’s simpler than what we have now and should preserve everyone’s just rights, including the rights of the public.

05-30-2008, 12:52 PM	#26
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	a modest proposal Here’s how I see the problem: Suppose you think Marc Bloch’s 1940 book (called, in English) _Strange Defeat_ is an important book and should be more widely available to scholars and available to anyone trying to understand the world. You want to publish it as an eBook so scholars can store it on their PCs and use it to research World War II, resistance movements, the uses and limits of intelligence gathering in war, ethics and war, the impact of mechanized mobility in war, etc. Who do you go to if you want to publish it as an eBook? It was published in the US by W. W. Norton & Company, as a paperback, “by arrangement with Oxford University Press.” It has an introduction by Sir Maurice Powicke and a forward by Georges Altman. It was translated from the French by Gerard Hopkins, and written, of course, by Marc Bloch but kept hidden until after the Nazis were gone. Also, who owns the French copyright? Marc Bloch was murdered in 1944 and never received anything, not even recognition, for this work. Here’s a proposed solution: Governments should use new technology to resolve the issue. Why can’t they establish an on-line database of copyrights, give copyright holders a reasonable period to declare those copyrights they wish to preserve by inputting the copyright information to the database. If the publisher fails to declare a copyright then the author (or his/her estate) should be allowed a reasonable length of time to repossess the copyright to their own work. Copyrights to works that no one declares would be revoked: that is, would revert to the public domain. The database would have to contain the type of copyright being declared, including such things as “Available in all forms and formats,” “available in English as paperback only,” “copyrighted in the public domain,” etc., indicating the copyright by nation. Then when someone wants to make a new edition of a book, play, song, etc., they can contact the copyright holder or, where feasible, find out where to send payments to the copyright holder for any work the publisher/copyright holder chose not to republish themselves. After all, the public purpose for granting copyrights is to encourage development of the arts and sciences. As complicated as this sounds, it’s simpler than what we have now and should preserve everyone’s just rights, including the rights of the public.