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EricDP · 07-30-2010, 12:57 PM

I noticed a lot of PD books I'm getting from the library are stamped with "this edition copyright 20xx" and the publisher has applied their DRM. In reading some of these, I believe that they've just taken Gutenberg text, applied some basic formatting, and are now trying to make some money off of it.

Here, on MobileRead, we have some very nice editions of PD books that are being posted with no copyright notice at all. People have put a lot of work into these. What's to stop the big publishers from picking them up, DRM'ing them, and selling them, making money from our work without even crediting us?

Many people have no idea you can download these books for free and they're buying them. Also, other companies are using them as promotional - e.g. Indigo told me a new Kobo comes with $1,500 worth of books pre-installed for free. Reading the Kobo books, some even contain the Gutenberg stamp - hardly $1,500 worth of books.

I'm thinking we need to start applying edition-based copyright to our library here at MobileRead that includes things like "This edition is copyright 2010 (person who posted the book). It must not be sold, used for promotional purposes, or edited without written permission." Also add some wording allowing MobileRead to provide it for download, allowing others to share/copy/format shift for personal use, etc. - let's protect our work and ensure that people know it came from here, and that we made it, not some big publisher. This will bring more people here, grow the community of editors, and increase the overall quality of the books instead of lining the pockets of the big publishers who are, for all intents and purposes, stealing our work and claiming rights to it.

07-30-2010, 12:57 PM	#1
EricDP Groupie Posts: 165 Karma: 339490 Join Date: May 2010 Device: nook, BlackBerry	This Edition Copyright... I noticed a lot of PD books I'm getting from the library are stamped with "this edition copyright 20xx" and the publisher has applied their DRM. In reading some of these, I believe that they've just taken Gutenberg text, applied some basic formatting, and are now trying to make some money off of it. Here, on MobileRead, we have some very nice editions of PD books that are being posted with no copyright notice at all. People have put a lot of work into these. What's to stop the big publishers from picking them up, DRM'ing them, and selling them, making money from our work without even crediting us? Many people have no idea you can download these books for free and they're buying them. Also, other companies are using them as promotional - e.g. Indigo told me a new Kobo comes with $1,500 worth of books pre-installed for free. Reading the Kobo books, some even contain the Gutenberg stamp - hardly $1,500 worth of books. I'm thinking we need to start applying edition-based copyright to our library here at MobileRead that includes things like "This edition is copyright 2010 (person who posted the book). It must not be sold, used for promotional purposes, or edited without written permission." Also add some wording allowing MobileRead to provide it for download, allowing others to share/copy/format shift for personal use, etc. - let's protect our work and ensure that people know it came from here, and that we made it, not some big publisher. This will bring more people here, grow the community of editors, and increase the overall quality of the books instead of lining the pockets of the big publishers who are, for all intents and purposes, stealing our work and claiming rights to it.