>From: Donald Wilson <marchie_at_mac.com>
>Books that are copyrighted, that if we have a hard printed copy of our
>own, we are allowed to make copies of for our own personal use.
Hi Donald:
I make my living writing novels, and this is not correct. You do not
have a right to make
additional copies of the book. As noted in the standard legalese on
the copyright page of _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_:
"No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without written permission of the publisher."
>I have the first 2 Harry Potter books in NewtonBook format, that I made
>from text files.
>
>I'd really like to get ahold of any/all of Tolkien's books,
>specifically the Lord of the Rings novels.
>
>Any suggestions?
Yes. Don't do this. Electronic rights to reproduce the work are held
by the author or whoever
the author sells the e-rights to. In the case of Harry Potter, the
rights are clearly held by Scholastic (meaning that they have already
paid J.K. Rowling for them); in the case of Tolkien, by his estate
(who sold the film rights to New Line Cinema) or by his publisher. I
hold the electronic rights to my last two books; Random House holds
the e-rights to my first four books, so even I, as the author, could
not legally put them in NewtonBook format, even for my own use,
without permission from the rights owner. It would be a violation of
my contract with Random House; they paid me for those rights, they
own them.
By converting the works into media where you don't own the rights,
whether NewtonBook, audio, HTML, or charming musical :-) and publicly
announcing you have them, you're putting yourself at risk of lawsuit.
I don't wish to over-dramatize, but publishers and authors have
gotten dead serious about protecting their copyrights in new media.
Granted, the audience for a NewtonBook version would be very, very
small. Or perhaps you have no intention of distributing or sharing
NewtonBook versions (although I'm sure people will contact you,
asking for NewtonBook copies). But it doesn't matter. The above
language makes it clear this is not legal.
That said, you certainly could contact Scholastic and ask for
permission, given the very small nature of the NewtonBook audience or
if this is strictly for your own use. They might give permission (I
think it unlikely, but you never know).
Best regards,
Jeff
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