Recent Feedback
I am a recently 'self' published author who used a recognized Self Publisher. That publisher sent my work to Google Books without me requesting (or paying for) the service. Google Books wrote and disseminated a preview that included the final pages of my murder mystery. Has the publisher violated copyright law?
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: Indiana Already Tried: July 14, 2012 I called the marketing representative working with me who handed me over to her supervisor who handed me over to Customer Support. At that time I was complaining only about the content of the Preview. I made screenshots of the preview appearing online and attached them to an e-mail stating my complaint about the preview and stating my expectations. There has been a 'back and forth' series of e-mail since. I realized this morning that my copyright may have been violated
Hello. Thanks for contacting us. You raise an interesting question -- who is responsible for copyright infringement.It is actually the one who copies a work and then distributes it without authorization. Unless there is a contractual agreement of some kind that prevents a publisher from providing a copy to Google Books, then the publisher is not the infringer. It is the organization that copies and distributes the work without authorization. If Google is copying and distributing the work, then any legal action would need to be taken up with Google.The thing is, there may circumstances in which the law excuses such infringement. This is known as "fair use." It protects things like commentary, book reviews, academic papers, news feeds etc that may use a bit of a work in the course of informing the public or furthering knowledge and scholarship. Fair use is a flexible legal doctrine -- so its a matter of convincing a judge that there has been infringement that should be sanctioned under the Copyright Act. You can read more here: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.htmlYou can read about recent developments in this law here:
http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/copyright.cfm
Experience: Practicing Law Since 2000
Just wondering if you have any follow-up questions or need any clarification on your Copyright question?If not, I'd be grateful if you would close the question with either a 3, 4, o4 5 rating, as experts only get paid for those three rating levels.Many thanks!