Quote:
Originally Posted by Boston
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/te...l.html?_r=1&hp
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“It’s exponentially up,” said David Young, chief executive of Hachette Book Group, whose Little, Brown division publishes the “Twilight” series by Stephenie Meyer, a favorite among digital pirates. “Our legal department is spending an ever-increasing time policing sites where copyrighted material is being presented.”
John Wiley & Sons, a textbook publisher that also issues the “Dummies” series, employs three full-time staff members to trawl for unauthorized copies. Gary M. Rinck, general counsel, said that in the last month, the company had sent notices on more than 5,000 titles — five times more than a year ago — asking various sites to take down digital versions of Wiley’s books.
“It’s a game of Whac-a-Mole,” said Russell Davis, an author and president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, a trade association that helps authors pursue digital pirates. “You knock one down and five more spring up.”
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The heart of the real complaint is the above. For centuries, copyright was self-enforcing, since copying a book was expensive and printing a press run was cheap. Pirates had to be well-organized groups of people with a fixed base of operations and distributors. You could get your hands on them if you could find them.
Now copying is cheap and press runs are expensive. Some Funion eater in a tastelessly decorated basement can copy an entire novel with minimal equipment.
{cue publisher whine} "I now have to spend money enforcing my rights."
Rights require effort if you're to keep them. Harlan Ellison, bless his shriveled little soul, figured out the best defense is a good offense. I wouldn't illegally copy one of his books.
Regards,
Jack Tingle