What Constitutes Copyright?
By now, you’ve probably read the news reports regarding the current copyright infringement trial against Random House, alleging that The DaVinci Code author Dan Brown modeled his novel too closely on a book published in 1982. This case brings up several important issues for all authors to contemplate:
- Should copyright infringement involve just the misappropriation of words or should reusing themes and ideas count as well?
- If so, how do we distinguish what constitutes misuse of themes and ideas, clearly a gray area for many?
- Most importantly, do you know enough about copyright law to lessen your risk for such problems? Some good books on this topic include Every Writer’s Guide to Copyright and Publishing Law by Ellen M. Kozak and Author Law A to Z: A Desktop Guide to Writers’ Right and Responsibilities by Sallie Randolph.
Filed Under Book Publishing News
Comments
Leave a Reply
-
The book called "brilliant ... indispensable ... and a must read" by publishing and publicity experts!
-
About the Author
I'm a freelance writer and author specializing in business technology.
