You really know when you've made it when someone torrents your work - Page 2

taosaur · 10-29-2013, 01:10 PM

The comment on exhausting an audience's goodwill was more a general observation on the practical effect of 'combating piracy' (and/or failing to adapt your distribution models because you're too busy 'combating piracy'). I figured you were just talking about works you prepared for the MR library and weren't that worried about the torrenting.

ShellShock · 10-29-2013, 02:56 PM

Please do not take offense, but calling these "my H.P. Lovecraft books" is a bit too proprietorial for me...I thought they were written by Lovecraft, and he is long past caring whether they appear on a torrent site.

Greg Anos · 10-29-2013, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShellShock

Please do not take offense, but calling these "my H.P. Lovecraft books" is a bit too proprietorial for me...I thought they were written by Lovecraft, and he is long past caring whether they appear on a torrent site.

Doesn't Ghostlyjack get some credit for cleaning up and making a nice volume?

Good on for making the big time!

morriss003 · 10-30-2013, 11:56 AM

I found one of my books at a torrent site, but it linked to a site with malware, so I posted a warning and pointed to where the book could be downloaded for free at Smashwords.

tompe · 10-30-2013, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Doesn't Ghostlyjack get some credit for cleaning up and making a nice volume?

Well, credit maybe. But not ownership or copyright.

Also, it might not be a good thing. As I understand it there are a lot of versions of Lovecraft's work out there and some are using older source material to really correct error that were in the published versions. So the best thing is if the best and most correct versions are spread. And having a lot of different versions might then not be a good thing.

Katsunami · 10-30-2013, 08:34 PM

While someone who makes a book from a public domain work does not obtain copyright on the text, they do have copyright on that particular book.

Therefore spreading such a book through a torrent is a copyright violation.

crich70 · 10-30-2013, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Torrents are a useful way of distributing legitimate files, too. They don't have to be used for evil. I mean, they mostly are, but that's not their fault.

True. There are a god many PD movies over at the Internet Archive for example that can be downloaded via torrent file. Not to mention books (though I like the quality of ebooks here at MR much better).

crich70 · 10-30-2013, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShellShock

Please do not take offense, but calling these "my H.P. Lovecraft books" is a bit too proprietorial for me...I thought they were written by Lovecraft, and he is long past caring whether they appear on a torrent site.

True. If he weren't then it's likely they wouldn't be PD books.

I think the OP simply meant that he had put that particular collection together or at least edited it which isn't that far from making a new English translation of say Jules Verne's "20,000 leagues under the seas" which was originally written in French.

kennyc · 10-30-2013, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsunami

While someone who makes a book from a public domain work does not obtain copyright on the text, they do have copyright on that particular book.

Therefore spreading such a book through a torrent is a copyright violation.

I'm not sure I believe that but don't want to take the time to research it.

Katsunami · 10-30-2013, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

I'm not sure I believe that but don't want to take the time to research it.

In the Netherlands, this would be a derivative work. The main condition to put the derivative work under your copyright is that this work must add enough new creative content.

Just taking all texts of Author X, slamming them into a file and writing "The complete works of Author X" on the cover won't be enough. That won't give you copyright on that work.

However, if you painstakingly create a very nice new layout, add annotations and footnotes, add an introduction, create a nice cover for it...in short, you're adding enough of your own stuff, then you will certainly have copyright on that work.

At least you do in the Netherlands.

Granted, I was assuming that the OP did create an actual ebook, and did not just smash the Gutenberg texts into one file, put a cover on it and be done with it.

ShellShock · 10-31-2013, 06:21 AM

I disown any copyright I may have on the books I have formatted and added to the MR library (e.g., Orwell novels). I do not think of them as my Orwell books. So many people would deserve credit otherwise (on project gutenbug and MR for example), and in comparison to Orwell my contribution was paltry and is beneath notice.

Where does this notion of ownership end? If I format shift a PD book in Calibre, make some minor corrections in Sigil, and post the result here at MR, then does that give me the moral right to claim some sort of ownership on a great literary classic?

Katsunami · 10-31-2013, 09:42 AM

In the Netherlands, it'd not give you copyright, because you didn't add enough of your own stuff to make it a derivative work.

10-31-2013, 06:21 AM	#26
ShellShock Wizard Posts: 1,178 Karma: 2431850 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: IPad Mini 2 Retina	I disown any copyright I may have on the books I have formatted and added to the MR library (e.g., Orwell novels). I do not think of them as my Orwell books. So many people would deserve credit otherwise (on project gutenbug and MR for example), and in comparison to Orwell my contribution was paltry and is beneath notice. Where does this notion of ownership end? If I format shift a PD book in Calibre, make some minor corrections in Sigil, and post the result here at MR, then does that give me the moral right to claim some sort of ownership on a great literary classic? Last edited by ShellShock; 10-31-2013 at 06:26 AM.

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10-29-2013, 01:10 PM	#16
taosaur intelligent posterior Posts: 1,562 Karma: 21295618 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ohiopolis Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Samsung S8, Lenovo Tab 3 Pro	The comment on exhausting an audience's goodwill was more a general observation on the practical effect of 'combating piracy' (and/or failing to adapt your distribution models because you're too busy 'combating piracy'). I figured you were just talking about works you prepared for the MR library and weren't that worried about the torrenting.

10-29-2013, 02:56 PM	#17
ShellShock Wizard Posts: 1,178 Karma: 2431850 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: IPad Mini 2 Retina	Please do not take offense, but calling these "my H.P. Lovecraft books" is a bit too proprietorial for me...I thought they were written by Lovecraft, and he is long past caring whether they appear on a torrent site.

10-30-2013, 11:56 AM	#19
morriss003 Evangelist Posts: 438 Karma: 3409790 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Maui Device: kindle	I found one of my books at a torrent site, but it linked to a site with malware, so I posted a warning and pointed to where the book could be downloaded for free at Smashwords.

10-30-2013, 08:34 PM	#21
Katsunami Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,111 Karma: 34000001 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: KPW1, KA1	While someone who makes a book from a public domain work does not obtain copyright on the text, they do have copyright on that particular book. Therefore spreading such a book through a torrent is a copyright violation.

10-31-2013, 09:42 AM	#27
Katsunami Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,111 Karma: 34000001 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: KPW1, KA1	In the Netherlands, it'd not give you copyright, because you didn't add enough of your own stuff to make it a derivative work.