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Originally Posted by darryl
@Steve. So there was an "agreement", verbal, written or both, for RH to pay Royalties. However, you say that agreement was not legally binding.
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I don't say if it was binding. That's up to the court.
I hope the reports that there was a promise or agreement are wrong, because Random House shouldn't have agreed to such a thing. The fact that the author is against it only makes the idea of a agreement worse.
I do say I'm not reading "contract" in media reports.
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By the way, would I be correct in assuming that your position is that RH could have simply published the diaries verbatim without commentary and without any obligation to pay royalties?
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No. Let's not conflate quotations normally found in sourced non-fiction with publishing material in its entirety. I can't find such a rule for this board, but it's common to distinguish between quotation and reproduction of the whole, or most. Only the latter is piracy. Here is a sample rule in this spirit:
When reproducing material from other web sites, respect copyright by posting only a relevant excerpt and a link to the source, not the complete text of the original.
This should go for web sites, for newspapers, for magazines, and for books.
P.S. What about when the
New York Times publishes presidential speeches in toto? The answer is that they are covered by a US legal exception to copyright. If the Times wanted to reproduce an entire speech delivered by a governor, they might have to pay. But ordinary reporting, with quotations, should be free and protected.