Comments on: Public Lending Right – A waste of everyone’s time http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/ It's that simple -- and that hard. And that inescapable. Fri, 25 May 2012 15:29:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: eoinpurcell http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-35363 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:42:55 +0000 http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-35363 Antoin,

I can see your point, but if there is a long game, I just don’t see the rules!

The sad reality is that authors will not set the terms for digital sales, distributors and buyers will and then authors will respond.

How libraries paying a small fee per lend will resolve this I just do not know.

Eoin

]]> By: Antoin O Lachtnain http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-35359 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:12:28 +0000 http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-35359 i’d say this is really about a longer game for someone-or-other. It’s not about printed books – it’s really about setting out the geometry of the playing field for payment for digital goods.

]]> By: eoinpurcell http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-35022 Fri, 28 Sep 2007 09:29:06 +0000 http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-35022 John,

Sadly I fear the UK is implementing just such a scheme!

Eoin

]]> By: John http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-35016 Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:27:53 +0000 http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-35016 Totally agree. Indeed, there’s an extra problem that you didn’t list. Copyright covers the making of copies of the work. However, during the lending of a book from a library, no copy is made. Why, then, should copyright apply to this activity?

The library has bought the book. It now owns that book. Although it doesn’t have the right to make copies, it does have the right to do as it likes with that copy – lend it, resell it, doodle on it, burn it, whavever.

This PLR is an illogical extension of ‘copyright’. It has historically been accepted that the general good of lending libraries exceeds the good to the author of making money. And that the existence of libraries helps authors gain fans – and hence to sell more books. I’ve not heard whether the UK (where I live) is planning to implement this. Must check!

pax et bonum

]]> By: Lex Ferenda » Public Lending Wrong http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-34985 Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:26:24 +0000 http://eoinpurcellsblog.com/2007/09/27/public-lending-right-a-waste-of-everyones-time/#comment-34985 [...] Purcell has a good post dissecting it from a publisher’s point of [...]

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