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Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
According to the BBC and PBS (but not the longer newspaper reports), Random House first said they would pay the estate, but changed their mind. People can change their mind. Corporations can also reverse decisions. Googling, I can't find a claim that Random House entered into a contract with the Goebbels family anywhere, except in this thread.
If Random House Germany did reverse a bad decision, the likely impetus was author Phillip Longerich. Here's how he sees it:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/201...s-in-biography
As to whether it is about fair use, well, literally, I'm not sure, since fair use is an American legal phrase. But it is about that concept. If the subjects of biographies, or their heirs, get to shake down publishers (or, if self-published, authors) for cash, or force them to cut out quotations, that is a big freedom to read issue for readers of biographies. |
I'll quote from the BBC article:
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A representative for Random House had initially agreed to pay 1% of the net retail price to Goebbels' estate.
However, the publisher has since declared the agreement void, saying it has moral objections to paying a war criminal's estate.
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I would consider that pretty clear. People can change their mind, that's why prostitutes insist on the money up front [or so I'm told]. There's something about reaching into a wallet that brings out sudden moral shifts.