Law, legislation and stakeholders of books

Questions

1. How is copyright regulation on books in the world (continent)?
2. Are there any agreements on distribution of books and knowledge around the world (for ex. By the UN).
3. What has changed in regulation of e-books?
4. How are books censored over the past 10 years, and how (if it) is it done with e-books?
5. Who are the big stakeholders in printing and publishing companies?
6. What are the rights and ownerships of the authors?
7. How is piracy being handled, and what has changed in the book piracy over the last 10 years?

Discussion

Copyright regulations and treaties

How is copyright regulation on books in the world (continent)?
Are there any agreements on distribution of books and knowledge around the world (for ex. By the UN).

There is a world wide organisation that seeks to protect the (copy)rights of a number of types of intellectual property (discussed later). The organisation is named WIPO, World Intellectual Property Organisation. It is an organisation that has its roots as far back as in the 1883. The history and all information can be found [here].

Treaties

There are a few important treaties. The most important and one of the oldest treaties in effect is the [Berne Convention]. It is created shortly after the Paris Convention, which did not cover/protect artistic expressions yet. WIPO holds the full list of different treaties signed worldwide that protect the different types of intellectual property. [link]

Types of intellectual property

• novels, short stories, poems, plays;
• songs, operas, musicals, sonatas; and
• drawings, paintings, sculptures, architectural works.

Books in itself are however not mentioned. Copyrights are applicable to the contents of the books. This distinction is small, but then again, books in itself are not protected. It is self evident that intellectual property is distributed using a book. Generally, most of the the IP's mentioned above are printed into books, otherwise it could hardly be of any use, how else will others know and learn about the knowledge?

Stakeholders

Who are the big stakeholders in printing and publishing companies?
What are the rights and ownerships of the authors? There is a list of stakeholders that can be thought of:

• Publishers
• Authors
• Readers
• Libraries
• Taxes
• Books stores
• Distributors/Resellers

Author's rights

Wikipedia has an extensive copyright article that discusses many variants of the rights of the owners and authors respectively. The French Copyright Law has been adopted by many contries in one way and another (like the Netherlands). It speaks of the rights of the author:

• right of publication (droit de divulgation): the author is the sole judge as to when the work may be first made available to the public (Art. L121-2).
• right of attribution (droit de paternité): the author has the right to insist that his name and his authorship are clearly stated.
• right to the respect of the work (droit au respect de l'intégrité de l'oeuvre): the author can prevent any modification to the work.
• right of withdrawal (droit de retrait et de repentir): the author can prevent further reproduction, distribution or representation in return for compensation paid to the distributor of the work for the damage done to him (Art. L121-4).
• right to protection of honour and reputation (droit à s'opposer à toute atteinte préjudiciable à l'honneur et à la réputation).

(copied from the wiki page).

Execution

How are books censored over the past 10 years, and how (if it) is it done with e-books?
How is piracy being handled, and what has changed in the book piracy over the last 10 years?
What has changed in regulation of e-books?

The list of censored books can be viewed here. "Mein Kampf" is probably one of the most controversial books, which is subject to debate in every country whether it should be banned or not.

Piracy is the unauthorised copying (and reselling) of copyrighted intellectual property. However, there is also another form of illegal activity often overlooked: plagiarism. Both are subject to the laws and prosecution thereof. In the Netherlands, there is no organ checking every document and paper that is produced. This has to be done by the author him/herself. This means that they are held responsible for any occurence of plagiarism/piracy.
This may be a very difficult task, as as time passes by, more and more gets written, thought and invented. There are (software) tools available that assist in the discovery of plagiarism. Leiden University uses a tool provided by Ephorus, which is able to detect an arbitary number of cases of plagiarism.

When a case of plagiarism/piracy is found, the author will have to report with the authorities, as is the common course of action in the Netherlands. When the economic damage is significant, the justice will proceed with a lawsuit.

When piracy and plagiarism crosses borders, the WIPO offers an arbitation department who will help and facilitatie between the different parties and countries to resolve issues.

The last ten years, not that much has changed in the field of copyright protection. Yes, there have been some more treaties since, but all are extensions to the Berne Convention. An example is the addition of laws on audiovisiual expressions - in stead of 50 years of protection, these have 20 years.

External links

• Dutch Copyright Law
• WIPO
• Auteursrecht (Dutch)
• Plagiarism Tool
• Leiden University statement about Ephorus

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