Is a table of contents copyrightable?

[Dr. Drib]

For posterity only.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

For posterity only.

Mother of God.

My inner eBookmaker weeps. Of course, once I read that opening bit, my inner everything was weeping. Or, maybe, that was screaming....


Hitch

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

For posterity only.

He better get that copyrighted.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

He better get that copyrighted.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

For posterity only.

I think he's actually out done "It was a dark and stormy night..." with that opening. A classic example of what happens when you ignore the rule of "show don't tell" in writing.

[AlanHK]

An acquaintance had written a book and wanted my opinion on it. But he was afraid to email it to me in case I got hacked and it was pirated. I told him that a first-time author has to twist people's arms to get them to look at it at all: and since it was autobiographical there wasn't much chance of it being plagiarised.

As for copyrighting a TOC: if someone had enough money to blow on lawyers they might try the same logic that sometimes covers phone directories and similar compilations -- e.g. see http://ipkitten.blogspot.hk/2016/05/...directory.html

But in the end, only the lawyers would come out ahead.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

An acquaintance had written a book and wanted my opinion on it. But he was afraid to email it to me in case I got hacked and it was pirated. I told him that a first-time author has to twist people's arms to get them to look at it at all: and since it was autobiographical there wasn't much chance of it being plagiarised.

As for copyrighting a TOC: if someone had enough money to blow on lawyers they might try the same logic that sometimes covers phone directories and similar compilations -- e.g. see http://ipkitten.blogspot.hk/2016/05/...directory.html

But in the end, only the lawyers would come out ahead.

I think the person I originally mentioned suffers from the same delusion as your friend: people will care enough to steal his story. Our creations are unique and precious, at least to us.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

An acquaintance had written a book and wanted my opinion on it. But he was afraid to email it to me in case I got hacked and it was pirated. I told him that a first-time author has to twist people's arms to get them to look at it at all: and since it was autobiographical there wasn't much chance of it being plagiarised.

As for copyrighting a TOC: if someone had enough money to blow on lawyers they might try the same logic that sometimes covers phone directories and similar compilations -- e.g. see http://ipkitten.blogspot.hk/2016/05/...directory.html

But in the end, only the lawyers would come out ahead.

In this day and age, autobiography is all the rage. It seems like every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks their life is worth reading about.
Truth be told, I would be more worried about mentioning someone that might sue for part of the royalties. Hence, why you will never see my memoirs.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

In this day and age, autobiography is all the rage. It seems like every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks their life is worth reading about.
Truth be told, I would be more worried about mentioning someone that might sue for part of the royalties. Hence, why you will never see my memoirs.

Did you mean my old friends Tom Ferkenburger, Dick Rasfarson, and Harry Bardsmars?

I haven't seen these guys in over 23 years! This is great news!

Can you supply the links, please?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Did you mean my old friends Tom Ferkenburger, Dick Rasfarson, and Harry Bardsmars?

I haven't seen these guys in over 23 years! This is great news!

Can you supply the links, please?

Haven't seen those three.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

An acquaintance had written a book and wanted my opinion on it. But he was afraid to email it to me in case I got hacked and it was pirated. I told him that a first-time author has to twist people's arms to get them to look at it at all: and since it was autobiographical there wasn't much chance of it being plagiarised.

Probably ended up being one of my clients. ;-)

As for copyrighting a TOC: if someone had enough money to blow on lawyers they might try the same logic that sometimes covers phone directories and similar compilations -- e.g. see http://ipkitten.blogspot.hk/2016/05/...directory.html

But in the end, only the lawyers would come out ahead.

I still can't see it. Not unless you used heavily trademarked names/items/concepts/whatever in it. Remember the US case:

cite from the referenced article: [In the US,] the Supreme Court denied copyright protection to a “garden-variety white pages directory” because its selection of listings “lack[ed] the modicum of creativity necessary to transform mere selection into copyrightable expression.”(Italic emphasis added.)

I'm pretty sure that 99.9999% of all TOC's "lack the modicum of creativity necessary" yadda-yadda.

Originally Posted by arjaybe

I think the person I originally mentioned suffers from the same delusion as your friend: people will care enough to steal his story. Our creations are unique and precious, at least to us.

You guys need to come to work for me for a month. You'll get this spiel, concept, question, over and over. All effectively distilling down to, "[h]ow do[es] he know that [we] won't steal [his] book?" Yupperdoodle, boy, I'm gonna steal YOUR autobiography and do...what?

Is there some reason that 99.99% of all authors don't seem to understand what "pirating" IS? As in, GIVING something away? And thus, I would steal your s**t for what purpose? To GIVE it away? So, I'd wreck my company, put myself out of business...to pirate someone's half-assed book, to give it away to the masses. To earn nothing.

Oh, brother. Geeze, if I'm going to go to the dark side, you can bet your bippy that it's for money, not for the...what? The glory of stealing something that nobody wants in the first place, to give it away for nothing?

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

In this day and age, autobiography is all the rage. It seems like every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks their life is worth reading about.
Truth be told, I would be more worried about mentioning someone that might sue for part of the royalties. Hence, why you will never see my memoirs.

THAT is the thing that kills me. I've had a fairly wide-ranging life, in any number of unusual professions, with a few adventures here and there, and I can't imagine that ANYONE wants to read about my life. I don't understand why all these people are so convinced that other people unrelated to them want to read theirs, especially those that have pretty much not done anything. It's...boggling.


Hitch

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Probably ended up being one of my clients. ;-)



I still can't see it. Not unless you used heavily trademarked names/items/concepts/whatever in it. Remember the US case:



I'm pretty sure that 99.9999% of all TOC's "lack the modicum of creativity necessary" yadda-yadda.



You guys need to come to work for me for a month. You'll get this spiel, concept, question, over and over. All effectively distilling down to, "[h]ow do[es] he know that [we] won't steal [his] book?" Yupperdoodle, boy, I'm gonna steal YOUR autobiography and do...what?

Is there some reason that 99.99% of all authors don't seem to understand what "pirating" IS? As in, GIVING something away? And thus, I would steal your s**t for what purpose? To GIVE it away? So, I'd wreck my company, put myself out of business...to pirate someone's half-assed book, to give it away to the masses. To earn nothing.

Oh, brother. Geeze, if I'm going to go to the dark side, you can bet your bippy that it's for money, not for the...what? The glory of stealing something that nobody wants in the first place, to give it away for nothing?





THAT is the thing that kills me. I've had a fairly wide-ranging life, in any number of unusual professions, with a few adventures here and there, and I can't imagine that ANYONE wants to read about my life. I don't understand why all these people are so convinced that other people unrelated to them want to read theirs, especially those that have pretty much not done anything. It's...boggling.


Hitch

No offense meant to anyone but the worst ones I have seen are the I overcame whatever and now I must share my story. The whatever is usually something minor. Usually some crap that happened in high school. Now the girl that wound up homeless at 14 was an interesting read. (Lots of side stuff too.)
I've had adventures myself but I doubt seriously anyone cares.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

In this day and age, autobiography is all the rage. It seems like every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks their life is worth reading about.
Truth be told, I would be more worried about mentioning someone that might sue for part of the royalties. Hence, why you will never see my memoirs.

Or for libel if they are shown in a bad light.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Mother of God.

My inner eBookmaker weeps. Of course, once I read that opening bit, my inner everything was weeping. Or, maybe, that was screaming....


Hitch

Have a good look at Moon People, and you'll no longer weep. You'll scream louder than you've ever screamed in your life. You'll bash your head against the wall. You'll hire a hit man Jeff Bezos for allowing it on Amazon. You''ll have the same hit man kill the author. You'll jump up and down. And more. It's that bad. It's unreadable and that's before you read a single word.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Have a good look at Moon People, and you'll no longer weep. You'll scream louder than you've ever screamed in your life. You'll bash your head against the wall. You'll hire a hit man Jeff Bezos for allowing it on Amazon. You''ll have the same hit man kill the author. You'll jump up and down. And more. It's that bad. It's unreadable and that's before you read a single word.

I looked at the description and the LITB, AND the bloody Author bio. That's enough for my lifetime.

Hitch