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Literary Law Guide for Authors
The content of the book really is as the title claims. It is a practical explanation of legal concepts, written by practicing lawyers. It is not a theoretical exploration, it is not a detailed history, and it is most definitely not criticism. The primary audience is writers who want a good understanding of the law before getting involved with the publishing industry or attempting to self-publish. The writing itself is beautifully concise and precise. Given the topic, there are passages that require long lists of examples and distinctions to maintain accuracy. If you have never encountered thorough legal writing before, it can be a bit daunting.
Literary Law Guide begins by explaining copyright in great depth. In this book, that only means 10 pages. But the table of contents for that section alone lists the following:
- Protecting Ideas
- When Copyright Ownership Begins
- Showing the World That You Own Your Work
- What a Copyright Owner Has the Right to Do
- Scope of Copyright Protection
- The Elements of Copyrightable Works
- Copyright Registration
- How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work
- Where to Search for Information about Registered Copyrights
- Transfer of Copyright
- Reclaiming Your Copyright After Transfer
That's only the first half of the book's text. Trademark gets the next 30 pages. Once again the authors provide thorough explanations of concepts and actual legal procedures. The final section is on contracts. Given the book's nature, it's really about publishing contracts for writers, but the information is still useful.
The book includes a CD with a handful of Copyright and Trademark Office forms in PDF and Word files of sample publishing contracts. These materials are also printed over 90 pages in the book itself. With the exception of the contracts, this is fairly superfluous. The forms are all readily available online.
Overall, Literary Law Guide has value for several segments of the Slashdot readership. Programmers, especially those working independently, can gain invaluable information on the available means for protecting or profiting from their work. Those interested in Free content (not just software) can better understand issues surrounding licensing and the public domain. Everyone who reads the book will have a better understanding of the issues we spend so much time discussing.
Perhaps because it is targeted towards the world of traditional writing, Literary Law Guide may leave a Slashdot reader unsatisfied at the coverage of digital-age issues. However, I think the fault for that really lies with a legal structure that is, as we all know, far behind the times. A book on the law can only cover what law there is. As the authors put it, in what may be the greatest understatement on this issue I've seen:
In light of this twenty-first century reality, some scholars believe that the law lags far behind in closing the gap between yesterday's statutes and tomorrow's technology.
The final recommendation: if you want to know more about copyright and trademark than you'll easily discover using Google, this book is for you.
You can purchase Literary Law Guide for Authors: Copyright, Trademark, and Contracts in Plain Language from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Literary Law Guide begins by explaining copyright in great depth.
I agree. I downloaded the book off of Kazaa and thought the whole discussion concerning copyrights was well done.
I'd like to see an analogous "Music Law Guide for Songwriters". Which of these books or any other book do people recommend? Until I get some hard facts on how to avoid George Harrison's mistake (Bright Tunes v. Harrisongs), the guide I wrote suggests: Don't.
Will I retire or break 10K?
- If you make something into an MP3, it automatically receives 1st Amendment protection against any copyright, trademark, contract or national security classification you would otherwise be violating.
- Everything is parody of something, and is therefore invariably legal.
- Don't ask us! Get a lawyer!
It seems to be that readership armed with actual facts and knowledge could only diminish this wellspring of creativity we've built here...What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
I Am Not A Lawer
when discussing things that have legality issues in them course 90% of slashdot users probably didnt know that either which is why you got the stupid comments back.
http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms/i/IANAL.html
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
I heard os something called a "poor man's copy right" where a non published author takes a copy of his/her writing and puts in a self address stamped envelope and mails it to him/her self. The post office will stap the date that the envelope was snet on the envelope. Upon receiving the now dated writing in the mail the author should put it into a safety deposit box.
The thory here being that if someone steals the authors un-copyrighted work the author should be able to sue the thief and use th the date on a sealed envelope, and the records showing when the author put it in his/her safty deposit box as proof.
My question is if any one knows if this ever has, or would ever really work?
Note: this has been posted by r.future (a person who spends way to much time on the internet!)
...read the same books that law students read in law school. Stop looking for shortcuts; there aren't any. Reading slashdot is insanely frustrating for me because the level of ignorance about the law is appalling. It is not that hard to pick up a respectable law review (those are journals of legal analysis--available in libraries and (no kidding!) online) and read an article about the topic you are interested in. Slashdot people are reasonably intelligent, and can learn things like new programming languages. I don't see why you can't decypher the law--which is pretty straightforward in most cases. Stop treating the newspaper, this website (and pretty all other websites with a very few exceptions) as your gospel for legal issues.
There is so much disinformation and FUD about the law online that you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't educate yourself from the sources that truly understand the law. Go get a law school curriculum and buy a few of the books. Read them. It's not that hard. Stop looking for shortcuts.
I read the whole article to find out what IANAL means, and I still don't know, so WHAT'S IT MEAN, please.
This means I Am Not A Lawyer (IANAL).
It does not mean "IANAL - I am Near Alabama, so Yankees can filter posts easier." as some have suggested bcolflesh (710514)
Neither does it mean I Abuse Non-informative Acronyms Liberally
New question, Is there any way of filtering out posts from those near Alabama (or any states like IOWA, Ohio etc)?
The fundamental problem is that to defend your rights, you need money. It doesn't matter what the law is.
I was recently in a situation where I was slapped with a cease and desist order for something which was perfectly within my legal rights. I could cite extensive case law demonstrating that I was within my rights, and that I was not infringing on anyone else's rights.
But in the end, it came down to the fact that I was being slapped by a company with money, and I can't afford the lawyers. There's not money in it for the lawyers, so they won't do it on a contingent basis. It's much, much too small a case for an organization like the EFF.
So I end up being screwed. The simple fact is that law is irrelevant if you can't afford the lawyers to enforce it.
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
www.fogbound.net
but, but, but...if we stop spreading FUD about the law, what will we do for posts around here?!
OK, sorry; i'm sure this'll get modded redundant in 0.3 nanoseconds but i just couldn't help it.
ed
...which is pretty straightforward in most cases. ...
;)
Odd. I've been told (by laywers teaching my paralegal classes) that the law is rife with exceptions, collalaries, and special instances, and so while the general rules are easy to learn, applying them can be difficult.
So difficult, in fact, that we pay a special class of professionals to do so.
At any rate, don't you think that a specific publication aimed at an audience as an introduction is a good thing? Law journals are written for lawyers, and can be as difficult to read as kernal-development listservs if you don't know at least the basics.
(An example for the peanut gallery: Reading a judge's opinion a few weeks ago, in class, I came across the term "EBT." I was wondering where electronic money was passing hands, until the professor explained that "EBT" stood for "Examination Before Trial.")
He didn't include in newly required link so that we could all purchase the book through him so he'd get a commission. Come on people if you review a book remember to throw up a quicky Amazon link so you get a commission.
1. Write Book Review.
3. Add link to personal home page.
3. Post Review on Slashdot.
4. Make $.02 in comission from all the slashdot sales.
The simple fact is that law is irrelevant if you can't afford the lawyers to enforce it.
If you get slapped with a lawsuit like that, and genuinely cannot afford to hire a lawyer, you may be able to have one appointed for you--even in a civil matter.
You can also purchase legal insurance, or if worst comes to worst, represent yourself.