May 14 2012
Musicians Realizing They Don’t Need Major Labels Anymore | Techdirt – ” Jordis Unga, a singer who has appeared on two reality TV shows (Rock Star: INXS and The Voice), has decided that she doesn’t need to sign a label deal. While she didn’t win on either show, she did build up quite a following, [...]
May 13 2012
Introduction This is a long article. Grab a cup of coffee and settle in. I wrote this article and sent it to the RWR but it wasn’t suited for publication so I thought I would share it with you. The right to sever a copyright grant after 35 years came to my attention when Evan [...]
May 13 2012
Copyrights, particularly lengthy ones, benefit the corporations that license and/or those copyrights. The Copyright Extension Act of 1998 isn’t called the Mickey Mouse protection act because it is designed to protect individual creators. It is designated as such because it benefits one of the largest owners of intellectual property, Disney. As of 1998, the [...]
Apr 6 2012
ABA CEO Update on Google eBooks and Association’s Meeting With DOJ | Bookselling This Week – This is a two for one link. First, Google has totally abandoned indie booksellers. Remember that not two years ago, Google was going to save indie booksellers bacon by allowing them to be affiliates of the Google bookstore. Now [...]
Mar 21 2012
Thanks for having me! I’m happy to take follow-ups, but I’m in the middle of a busy teaching semester so may not be as fast as I’d ideally be. From Ros: Have there been any test cases where fanfiction authors have been sued for breach of copyright (or other related issues)? In [...]
Mar 20 2012
Short Answer: It depends. Longer Answer: The courts have constructed a two part test to determine if characters enjoy copyright. This test has been unevenly applied across the circuit courts (the courts just below the US Supreme Court). The first test is to determine whether the character is capable of copyright. In other words, a [...]
Mar 18 2012
Introduction: The issues of plagiarism and copyright overlap in fan fiction (and fiction in general) causing a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding. Wholesale copying without attribution (giving credit to the source) is plagiarism but not always copyright infringement. Copyright infringement can happen even when credit is being given. This piece attempts to talk about [...]
Mar 13 2012
Introduction On Saturday, March 10, 2012, New York Times reported that Vintage, a literary imprint of Random House, had won the rights to republish on a large scale the ebook bestseller trilogy: 50 Shades of Grey, 50 Shades of Darker, and 50 Shades of Freed. The first in the series was number 1 on the [...]
Feb 2 2012
News Brenda Novak’s auction will take place from May 1st through the 31st. They are looking for donated prizes. I’m thinking of donating a 100 page critique but honestly I don’t know whether that would be something someone would want. I can’t offer an ad as I’m sold out for the year. What do you [...]
Jan 6 2012
First up, no deals today, just the news. I don’t publish this to promote this deal but to share with the reading audience one of the strangest things I have received in my inbox (and trust me, I see a lot of crazy stuff there from more books about dumpster love to velvet Elvis loving). [...]
Jan 4 2012
NEWS Apple is hosting a media event in New York later this month and according to various websites, the focus is on books. There is some speculation that Apple will be rolling out a more full fledged self publishing platform. It already accepts self published books and Pages, Apple’s word processor, has a “save as [...]
Dec 23 2011
News Google has filed its motion to dismiss in the Google Book Settlement. The motion is based on a legal term known as standing. Not everyone can sue anyone else. You must have “standing” and Google is arguing that only the individual authors and artists have standing, not groups such as the Authors Guild. In [...]
May 23 2011
Joplin Missouri was hit by a tremendous tornado yesterday. The American Red Cross has sent out a call for donations and for medical help. On CNN, it is reported that 75% of the city has been destroyed by the tornado. ****** I feel a little awkward about transitioning into books after this but this post [...]
Mar 16 2011
Don’t forget to vote. http://dabwaha.com/!!! **** The White House has come out with a strong statement in support of stricter copyright laws primarily focused on combatting live streaming. I understand that sports organizations are having a very difficult time with this. Because of the money behind this endeavor (primarily funded by movie studios, record labels, [...]
Nov 22 2010
Kwana emailed me to let us know that Macmillan publishing has launched a new Facebook and twitter account called The Loft. Kwana is the moderator and it is a place to talk about contemporary women's fiction, romance and chicklit. It’s interesting that publishers like Macmillan through Tor.com and now, The Loft, are attempting to create [...]
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