Copy Right?

If I give you the right to copy/use my work, how far should that right go?

In a weekend post titled “Don’t buy this book” Seth Godin explains that an e-book he wrote in 2005 as a ”freebie” (available here) is now being sold on Amazon by BN Publishing. Seth does not know the publisher, nor did he authorize the publication of the book.

How is this possible? Chris Carfi at Social Customer points out that the Creative Commons (CC) license Seth used for the e-book does in fact allow the work to be used for commercial purposes. CC has a similar not-for-commercial-use license available.  For some reason though, Seth did not choose this license. Chris concludes that Seth may just be out of luck. I agree.

Seth points out the issue:

If you want to buy a copy, feel free... the issue isn't the royalties, it's that people are being willfully misled. This isn't a new Seth Godin book. There, now you know.

Clearly, Seth never intended to sell this book.  It has been and remains freely available, but I don’t think people being willfully misled is what is at issue either. The Amazon e-mail that precipitated the post did not refer to the book as “new”, only that it was available.  While it's true Seth is the author, the book is not hot off the press.   

The real issue is one of image and the lesson is one that anyone who writes or publishes using creative commons licenses should at least contemplate. The e-book Seth wrote is really a white paper setting up the business case and value of Squidoo, his latest web2.0 venture. While the book is insightful it’s a marketing piece and a sales pitch.  Some business readers who purchase the book are likely going to be left with a sour taste in their mouth, which I believe is one of the reasons Seth didn’t charge for the book in the first place (that, and giving it away is good marketing).  Did Seth ever think that someone would take the work and publish it in it's original format with a new snazzy cover?  Perhaps, but I doubt it, and that's the point.   

Lesson: People can and will do the craziest things with your work. If you don’t intend the piece to ever be a commercial work, license accordingly.   

Finally, I am not an attorney, and this is not legal advice.

Comments

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