Validation problem with EPUB2 copyright date

[crankypants]

I'm trying to make an EPUB2 document and the validator is giving me errors on the copyright date line in the metadata area of content.opf: "Error while parsing file 'attribute "property" not allowed here; expected attribute "content", "id", "name", "scheme" or "xml:lang"'." For this error, I got the syntax from a web page, but I can't find any other web page for copyright date. Here's line 16 with the error.

<meta property="dcterms:dateCopyrighted">1922-12-01</meta>

One web page says the format should be:

<meta name="xxx" content="xxx" />

But where do I get a list of NAMEs and what the content is with examples? That's the part I cannot seem to find.

Thanks.

[JSWolf]

There is no specific metadata for copyright date. But you can add in metadata for it that's not looked at but is there for anyone to see looking at the OPF.

<meta name="CopyrightDate" content="1922-12-01"/>

[crankypants]

Ah, thank you. I thought I was going nuts.

Some books may have a copyright date of 1901, but were converted to EPUB in 2015.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by crankypants

Ah, thank you. I thought I was going nuts.

Some books may have a copyright date of 1901, but were converted to EPUB in 2015.

1901 is when the text was copyright. You can also copyright the ePub. But you'd have to have two copyright dates. One for the text and one for the ePub.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

1901 is when the text was copyright. You can also copyright the ePub. But you'd have to have two copyright dates. One for the text and one for the ePub.

You cannot copyright the ePub just because you changed the format. The original copyright sticks. If you add stuff you can copyright the stuff you add but the original author is the only one who copyrights the text itself.

The opf entry is not anything you want. It should be <dc:rights> in the OPF file. They text itself can specify the date and any additional data.

Dale

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

You cannot copyright the ePub just because you changed the format. The original copyright sticks. If you add stuff you can copyright the stuff you add but the original author is the only one who copyrights the text itself.

The opf entry is not anything you want. It should be <dc:rights> in the OPF file. They text itself can specify the date and any additional data.

Dale

But you can copyright the ePub as a container for the book so nobody else can take your ePub and claim it.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But you can copyright the ePub as a container for the book so nobody else can take your ePub and claim it.

No you cannot copyright containers. ePub as a container is owned by IDPF. Where did you get this idea?

Dale

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

No you cannot copyright containers. ePub as a container is owned by IDPF. Where did you get this idea?

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.)

[DaleDe]

certainly any images including the cover art is separately copyrightable but the copyright only extends to the image. The structure is not copyrightable and I doubt you could copyright a CSS file.

Dale

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

certainly any images including the cover art is separately copyrightable but the copyright only extends to the image. The structure is not copyrightable and I doubt you could copyright a CSS file.

Correct. The structure itself is not likely to be creative in any way, because the data is basically in a fixed format, the data is factual, and the only allowable variation is the order in which certain big chunks of it appear. So it likely wouldn't enjoy copyright protection in any meaningful sense.

I can't think of any reason that you CSS wouldn't be protected by copyright, though, if it is complex enough, and if somebody copies it outright. It certainly is creative in nature, and there are usually multiple ways of doing anything nontrivial.

[Jellby]

You could always include some original poem or essay in CSS or XML comments