Useless copyrights?
I often wonder what copyrights are good for in today’s publishing industry. Almost all fiction books (and probably all books) list the author(s) as the copyright holders. Whether authors are self- or traditionally published, what recourse do they have? If someone “steals” their intellectual property (that can assume many forms), is an author going to take that someone to court? Better said, can an author convince a lawyer to take that someone to court?
Unless a book is making a lot of money, I doubt it. In that case, I guess a lawyer might even do a pro bono representation, or, if the author is already rich, s/he can pay a lawyer a lot of money. Today it seems doubtful that most authors would be willing to spend money on a lawyer, though.
Maybe movie rights on the line? Ah, but that usually means the book has made a lot of money! Hollywood won’t even look at a good story unless it’s already popular. In fact, popular is the only requirement for Hollywood—the story doesn’t even have to be good. The Goldfinch and Gone Girl come to mind. So we’re back at square one: most authors will have to shrug and forget about legal recourse because wiping out the royalties they’ve received just isn’t worth it.
I guess I don’t know how copyrights work…or are supposed to work! I’m a mongrel, so I have some traditionally published books as well as self-published books. Will my publishers go after someone who steals my material? They have even less motivation to do so! They might for some book, again because it’s making a lot of money (not mine!). But usually not in general. Of course, a traditional publisher usually takes in 85% of the royalties compared to the author’s 15%, so they might be a bit more motivated than their author.
But really, on a per-book basis, does it make sense for either author or publisher to fight a copyright violation? Not usually. Book pirates and other unscrupulous people know that, of course, and go wild, stealing intellectual property at will.
What constitutes a copyright violation? We can find analogies in the music business. We have seen cases where one singer takes a melody, puts different words to it, and then publishes it as a new song. It might even be less that a melody, just a guitar riff or background beat. That’s what a book pirate does when he takes a PDF version of a novel, strips off the author’s name and copyright info, and sells it as his own. And it is a copyright violation as much as stealing prose from a fiction book.
Unless an author is also a lawyer who can represent her or his own case, it just doesn’t make sense to go after the crook. That still doesn’t change two facts: (1) a copyright violation is morally reprehensible, and (2) it means an author is losing royalties, no matter how few they are. It is stealing, it’s a crime, but nobody apprehends the perp and it doesn’t make economic sense to go after him anyway.
But the music industry has shown a way to go after copyright violators: class action lawsuits. Get enough authors and publishers together and we can create a case that will interest any lawyer, or even a team of them. Of course, that still depends on the amount of money involved, not the number of plaintiffs. Other than class action lawsuits, I believe copyrights are useless. Does all this negativity depress you? In the famous words of Mick Mulvaney, get over it! Your only reward for telling your stories is usually only the storytelling itself. That’s all there is. Get over it!
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Comments are always welcome.
Mind Games. Androids with ESP? What could go wrong? As a gifted teenager tries to find the murderer of her adopted father, she discovers an evil conspiracy bent on controlling all of near-Earth space. A.B. Carolan’s terrifying novel gives new meaning to technology run amok where government programs have unintended consequences. This is the third book in the “ABC Sci-Fi Mysteries” and is available in print and Kindle format on Amazon and in all ebook formats at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and lenders and library services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Taylor, Gardners, etc.).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
