Quote:
Originally Posted by DaleDe
No you cannot copyright containers. ePub as a container is owned by IDPF. Where did you get this idea?
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The IDPF does not hold any copyright on books that you create. They hold a copyright on the standards documents.
Under certain circumstances, you can copyright a digital adaptation of a work independently of the original work. There's no additional copyright protection extended to the text itself, obviously, and realistically not on the HTML markup unless you're doing something particularly unusual. However, if you can show that there is substantial original artistic expression—the cover art, for example—then you can obtain copyright protection for that expression.
With that said, no matter what you do, nothing prevents someone from taking the basic structure of your book, replacing your custom CSS and cover art, and distributing it as their own. (Mind you, I would not advocate trying this, as you can never be sure what the courts will determine is the minimal threshold for sufficient artistic expression to enjoy copyright protection, but IMO it is unlikely that you would win a case if someone did it to you.)