Introduction
eBooks or electronic books, are basically books available in a digital format. In today’s era of digitalisation, online and electronic books have a lot of relevance. E-books can be accessed from most types of electronic gadgets, including, but not limited to phones, computers, tablets, eBook readers (example, Kindle) and so on.
eBooks are becoming increasingly popular in the present day. This is due to them being easily accessible, and cheaper. eBooks cost less because of their lower cost of production. This is due to their being no printing and related costs.
One of the legal issues involved with e-books is the same as most digital files – piracy and copyright infringement (elaborated later). A lot of emerging, and even well established publishers have been facing this problem, more so, after the advent of the internet. Internet, in the present day, is highly user-friendly and even a layman can use the internet to make copies of eBooks.
eBooks are commercially available in multiple formats like ePub, MOBI, AZW, KF8, PRC and many more. Some formats are protected with DRM or Digital Rights Management technology.
What is Copyright & How Does it Affect eBooks
eBooks are under the ambit of all the laws and legislations governing intellectual property, and more specifically, literary and digital/electronic works. This includes the Indian Copyright Act and Information Technology Act.
The creators and producers of eBooks own the exclusive copyrights to their works. They are permitted to give selective, or absolute (depending upon their discretion) rights to a third party for usage of their composition for commercial purposes.
Section 14 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 defines the term copyright. A copyright is basically the legal right to print, publish, perform, film, or record “literary, dramatic and musical work” or any such creative material for a span of a few years, or even lifetime. Hence, eBooks fall under this definition.
Section 30 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 states that “the owner of the copyright in any existing work or the prospective owner of the copyright in any future work may grant any interest in the right by licence in writing signed by him or by his duly authorised agent”.
When a writer gives a book to a third party, like a publisher, for publication, they sign an agreement which legalises the same. The third party is said to have obtained a “licence” for the usage of the composition(s). The above mentioned publisher is referred to as the licensee. Section 2(j), in short, defines the term licence as the right to use benefits of having a copyright of a particular commodity.
Digital Rights Management (DRM)
What is DRM
DRM technology basically exists to protect the copyright of the creators of the digital content, including eBooks. Most creators of digital content utilize this protection for protecting copyrights.
The working of DRM can be explained with this example – a book written by an author has been registered under the appropriate authorities. Now, it has proper legal protections under the law. If the author still feels that further protection needs to be accorded, he or she may protect the book by a further layer of protection in the form of DRM. The author now has the figurative key to the lock over his work, and can streamline who uses it.
DRM is basically a measure to limit the access of third parties to access the file for further copying etc.
Who uses DRM
Kindle, by Amazon, is probably the most popular eBook reader in the present day. Kindle formats, like AZW and mobi, and even a few PDFs are protected by DRM coding. A consequence of this is that a few eBooks in AZW format cannot be opened in other devices.
Apple has its own DRM technology called ‘Fair Play’. Apple recognizes PDF, text file, .ePub, and .ibooks file. Unlike Amazon, which has its special formats, most of Apple’s formats are general, but are protected by Fair Play.
Legality of DRM
Indian Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012added Sections 65A and 65B which deal with “any person who circumvents an effective technological measure applied for the purpose of protecting any of the rights conferred by this Act”.
The sections basically say that anyone who tries to bypass any technological protection of any copyrighted material (example, DRM) can be punished with a two year imprisonment along with a fine.
It clearly includes DRM technologies under its ambit. So, DRM technologies have a legal basis under Indian laws.
Misuse of DRM
There have been quite a few controversies about the same, especially in the United States. One such example is the case of Sony Entertainment. Sony launched a DRM software called MediaMax. It was criticized for being too restrictive. It was designed such that the consumer who bought the MediaMax enable CD could only burn three copies of the same, before the software locked the feature of burning. What made matters worse was the lack of transparency that Sony incorporated.
The albums did not explicitly mention this feature, and only upon a careful reading of the End-User License Agreement (EULA) of the album, could one get to know of the existence of this feature. Further, it even collected information about the user’s listening routines and sent the information to Sony.
To add fuel to the fire, this feature opened up the users to computer threats through hackers and the like. This caused a mass consumer outrage, and Sony faced the brunt of it in the form of class-action lawsuits. Sony settled all of the suits for a hefty settlement.
How and Where to Publish Your Work
eBooks can be published on various online platforms. Each have their own terms and conditions, with their own advantages and disadvantages. Various sources have separate statistics about marketshare, but all agree that the eBook market is dominated by Amazon.Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a self-publishing service providing a good opportunity for all writers.
90% of the eBook market is dominated by Amazon (60%) and Apple’s iBook Author (20%). Other publishers are Pubit!, Google Play store, Writing Life and so on. Kindle is an eBook reader by Amazon, which supports AZW, KF8 and other Amazon specific formats. Google Play Store sells eBooks in PDF format, while Apple’s iBook Author recognizes ePub, PDF and other common formats.
Royalties
Royalty is a payment made to the legal owner for the use of property. The conditions upon which the royalties are awarded depend upon the license agreement between the parties. When an author gives the license to a publisher to publish their book, they expect to be paid back in what is called royalty. Different publishing houses have different rates depending on a variety of factors, even in the case of eBooks.
eBooks or electronic books, are basically books available in a digital format. In today’s era of digitalisation, online and electronic books have a lot of relevance. E-books can be accessed from most types of electronic gadgets, including, but not limited to phones, computers, tablets, eBook readers (example, Kindle) and so on.
eBooks are becoming increasingly popular in the present day. This is due to them being easily accessible, and cheaper. eBooks cost less because of their lower cost of production. This is due to their being no printing and related costs.
One of the legal issues involved with e-books is the same as most digital files – piracy and copyright infringement (elaborated later). A lot of emerging, and even well established publishers have been facing this problem, more so, after the advent of the internet. Internet, in the present day, is highly user-friendly and even a layman can use the internet to make copies of eBooks.
eBooks are commercially available in multiple formats like ePub, MOBI, AZW, KF8, PRC and many more. Some formats are protected with DRM or Digital Rights Management technology.
What is Copyright & How Does it Affect eBooks
eBooks are under the ambit of all the laws and legislations governing intellectual property, and more specifically, literary and digital/electronic works. This includes the Indian Copyright Act and Information Technology Act.
The creators and producers of eBooks own the exclusive copyrights to their works. They are permitted to give selective, or absolute (depending upon their discretion) rights to a third party for usage of their composition for commercial purposes.
Section 14 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 defines the term copyright. A copyright is basically the legal right to print, publish, perform, film, or record “literary, dramatic and musical work” or any such creative material for a span of a few years, or even lifetime. Hence, eBooks fall under this definition.
Section 30 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 states that “the owner of the copyright in any existing work or the prospective owner of the copyright in any future work may grant any interest in the right by licence in writing signed by him or by his duly authorised agent”.
When a writer gives a book to a third party, like a publisher, for publication, they sign an agreement which legalises the same. The third party is said to have obtained a “licence” for the usage of the composition(s). The above mentioned publisher is referred to as the licensee. Section 2(j), in short, defines the term licence as the right to use benefits of having a copyright of a particular commodity.
Digital Rights Management (DRM)
What is DRM
DRM technology basically exists to protect the copyright of the creators of the digital content, including eBooks. Most creators of digital content utilize this protection for protecting copyrights.
The working of DRM can be explained with this example – a book written by an author has been registered under the appropriate authorities. Now, it has proper legal protections under the law. If the author still feels that further protection needs to be accorded, he or she may protect the book by a further layer of protection in the form of DRM. The author now has the figurative key to the lock over his work, and can streamline who uses it.
DRM is basically a measure to limit the access of third parties to access the file for further copying etc.
Who uses DRM
Kindle, by Amazon, is probably the most popular eBook reader in the present day. Kindle formats, like AZW and mobi, and even a few PDFs are protected by DRM coding. A consequence of this is that a few eBooks in AZW format cannot be opened in other devices.
Apple has its own DRM technology called ‘Fair Play’. Apple recognizes PDF, text file, .ePub, and .ibooks file. Unlike Amazon, which has its special formats, most of Apple’s formats are general, but are protected by Fair Play.
Legality of DRM
Indian Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012added Sections 65A and 65B which deal with “any person who circumvents an effective technological measure applied for the purpose of protecting any of the rights conferred by this Act”.
The sections basically say that anyone who tries to bypass any technological protection of any copyrighted material (example, DRM) can be punished with a two year imprisonment along with a fine.
It clearly includes DRM technologies under its ambit. So, DRM technologies have a legal basis under Indian laws.
Misuse of DRM
There have been quite a few controversies about the same, especially in the United States. One such example is the case of Sony Entertainment. Sony launched a DRM software called MediaMax. It was criticized for being too restrictive. It was designed such that the consumer who bought the MediaMax enable CD could only burn three copies of the same, before the software locked the feature of burning. What made matters worse was the lack of transparency that Sony incorporated.
The albums did not explicitly mention this feature, and only upon a careful reading of the End-User License Agreement (EULA) of the album, could one get to know of the existence of this feature. Further, it even collected information about the user’s listening routines and sent the information to Sony.
To add fuel to the fire, this feature opened up the users to computer threats through hackers and the like. This caused a mass consumer outrage, and Sony faced the brunt of it in the form of class-action lawsuits. Sony settled all of the suits for a hefty settlement.
How and Where to Publish Your Work
eBooks can be published on various online platforms. Each have their own terms and conditions, with their own advantages and disadvantages. Various sources have separate statistics about marketshare, but all agree that the eBook market is dominated by Amazon.Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a self-publishing service providing a good opportunity for all writers.
90% of the eBook market is dominated by Amazon (60%) and Apple’s iBook Author (20%). Other publishers are Pubit!, Google Play store, Writing Life and so on. Kindle is an eBook reader by Amazon, which supports AZW, KF8 and other Amazon specific formats. Google Play Store sells eBooks in PDF format, while Apple’s iBook Author recognizes ePub, PDF and other common formats.
Royalties
Royalty is a payment made to the legal owner for the use of property. The conditions upon which the royalties are awarded depend upon the license agreement between the parties. When an author gives the license to a publisher to publish their book, they expect to be paid back in what is called royalty. Different publishing houses have different rates depending on a variety of factors, even in the case of eBooks.
