Extending UCITA To Printed Books? 135
mapmaker asks: "I recently purchased an application 'how-to' book (Inside AutoCAD Map 2000, OnWord Press) that utilizes a disturbing method of publication: the final 100 pages of the text aren't printed - they're included on the companion CD-ROM as PDF files. I'm not talking about extras or bonus material - these are integral parts of the text. The last page of the printed text simply states, 'Book Continued on Companion CD-ROM'. Leaving aside the fact that this is a dirty and underhanded method of cutting publishing costs, this is particularly disturbing because of the sticker that seals the CD jacket. It states: 'CD Enclosed. If the disc package seal is broken, the purchaser forfeits all return rights and privileges to the seller.'" Now this just does not sound right at all. Looks like I'll be avoiding books from OnWord Press in the future.
"In other words, to examine the complete text of this 'book' that I've bought, I must first agree to forfeit my legal rights as a consumer?"
I live in Virginia, the only state to have the dubious honor of passing UCITA into law. My question is this: Because some of the text of this book is contained in electronic files bundled with the printed portion, does UCITA give the weight of law to this preposterous shrink wrap "agreement"? And how does this impact existing laws pertaining to copyright, fair use, and consumers' rights?"
a good question (Score:3)
I believed no.
OverLord
Annoying (Score:1)
But also, How fricken annoying! I have a problem, I reach over onto my self, grab the relavent book (if I have it) and quickly find the page, then sit it in front of me as I work on the problem.
Is the index in the print, or on the CD? Could you imagine having to stick the damn CD in, go to the back, look up a page, just to see its in the printed half? Damn, thats stupid.
Just having to read it off the computer you're working on is a pain in the ass, print is just faster unless you always have the pdf in memory, but having to putz around with that AND a book is asinine.
Is it even a book? (Score:2)
Did this thing have notices on the cover 'Computer required: You will not be able to read all of this book with a computer.'? If not, I'd say the product had been sold under false pretences, because I dont need a computer to read a book.
Re:Rant: Evil's of Free CD's in books (Score:1)
Don't break the seal (Score:1)
Re:I return all books that don't contain all text (Score:1)
Only way to fit in the material? How about volume 1 and volume 2? I'd pay for it, if it was all printed.
Re:Are they PDF raster files? (Score:1)
Re:When in doubt, print it!!! (Score:1)
After spending all of that money, you have a bunch of loose pages. You can pay more to have them put in some kind of cheap binding. In the end, you've could have spent $30 dollars to get the last two chapters of a book you already paid for. Not a very good deal, if you ask me. Of course, if I'm not paying for the printing, I guess it doesn't matter any more than the cost of the book would if I were getting *it* for free.
Re:I return all books that don't contain all text (Score:1)
Re:Where is Phil K Dick when you need him? (Score:1)
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Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:1)
The interesting thing about this author/publisher relationship is this: authors, if they care about their success, will evaluate prospective publishers. And as well they should, in order to determine if the manner in which the publisher conducts the production and distribution of their work is in line with their own principles. There's no written rule that says an author *has* to use a publisher that insists on a UCITA-like stranglehold - but if the author chooses to do so anyway, let the chips fall where they may. If they lose their shirt, tough.
Of course, this is predicated on the assumption that consumers will have the fortitude to stand up and refuse to purchase this kind of product. We all know that it doesn't work with music, so maybe it won't work here either. Time will tell.
Glue physics (Score:2)
So we simply followed the laws of glue physics and heated the edges and pried the plastic off the back cover of the book with a pocketknife and slipped the CD out. Then when we returned it, we would slip the CD back in , put a little clear glue along the edges of the plastic and there you have it, an unremoved CD.
Now with the shrinkwrap issue, you have alightly more problems. if you carefully cut the wrap along the lining, you can theoritcally put it back together by heating it up again. Or else there is the option of being friends with a store clerk that has access to a shrinkwrapper and have the shrink wrap it up for you again.
Re:Where is Phil K Dick when you need him? (Score:3)
No, but it is possible for a corporation to publish a book.
...phil
UCITA (Score:1)
Actually VA isn't the only state to pass the UCITA:
OK HI IA IL -- Have Introduced bills
MD VA -- Have Passed UCITA
WA -- The Wall Street Journal reported on 10/11/99 that Microsoft was lobbying the Washington legislature heavily to introduce and pass that state's UCITA legislation.
This info blantently "fair use'd" from:
UCITA Facts [cpsr.org]
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Several ways to deal with this sort of thing... (Score:1)
...include not buying the product in the first place. Or if you've bought it unknowing, to return it before you open the shrinkwrap on the CD and get your money back. Or if there are no returns, to simply toss out the CD and send an email letting the vendor know you're feel you've been scammed and you're not going to buy their product again.
The only way to deal with the problem is to deal with the problem.
Illegal in the u.k. (Score:2)
If it didnt also say `statutory rights not affected` (which basically points out that it is not attempting to over-rule the 1979 Sale Of Goods Act, which states that you can have a full refund it its crap, doesnt work, doesnt do what it said it would do etc) then its breaking u.k. law.
Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:1)
Re:Class Books (Score:2)
I am convinced the publishers choose to include these discs understanding that they will receive less returns and make more money.
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Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:1)
CD License (Score:1)
Re:If you have used the book all the way... (Score:2)
But it's not true for a technical or reference book : what if the very first section you want to look up is in that last 100 pages and turns out to be inadequate or wrong ?
Re:Rant: Evil's of Free CD's in books (Score:1)
TWW
Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:2)
Re:poor lost karma (Score:1)
Class Books (Score:2)
Re:Class Books (Score:1)
Re:If you have used the book all the way... (Score:2)
Now, I'm not defending OnWord press. I think it's a very customer-unfriendly and stupid thing to do. If it's an issue (and it would be for me), by all means don't buy it. Check out return policies before you buy anything.
Example: I was recently having problems with my computer, and I thought--but I wasn't sure--it was the video card. The computer was no longer under warranty, and I decided to try to fix it myself. Now, I'm nowhere near as computer-saavy as most /.ers, and I had never so much as opened a computer before. Since I wasn't sure the problem was the video card, you can be sure I checked out the store's return policy before buying a card.
Good thing I did, too: Even though it turns out the problem was with the video card, I couldn't get the driver to install on the first card I bought. I went and bought a different brand of video card, which I got installed just fine, and returned the first one.
Ick. (Score:2)
I do like the idea, as a lot of publishers are doing now, of putting the entire text of a book on a cd as a searchable PDF. It really makes it helpful if you're looking for something specific.
I don't think you have a problem returning (Score:1)
Re:I h4x0r3d /. (Score:1)
The interesting/useful/funny bit of your post spilled over onto the cd.
How am I gonna fit /. into my cd drive?
WHY BOTHER (Score:1)
Your book is clearly defective (Score:1)
Re:Very disturbing indeed (Score:1)
I'm sure somebody will correct me if I am wrong, but in order for the contract to be construed under Maryland law, I believe that the corporation has to have at least a branch office in Maryland.
Which just provides all the more impetus for Maryland to pass the law, because then companies will be flocking to open an office there.
This will pass (Score:3)
On the other hand I can see why this type of thing would be tested in the Computer section first. I could also imagine it happening with college textbooks. Who knows, you are essentially forced to buy those if the professor chooses them, maybe half books could catch on there.
Why can't publishers give us what we want? For tech books a complete printed copy AND and searchable CD would be sweet.
Re:OT Tax issues (Score:1)
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Re:If you have used the book all the way... (Score:1)
It is not enough merely to disagree, but if we are to all be learned people, we must discuss even those positions we abhor.
It is in this way we will be enlightened.
Nyah, nyah to you too.
Re:a good question (Score:2)
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D. Fischer
Re:a good question (Score:2)
Soylent Green is people!
So where's the immorality in this? (Score:2)
I don't know how large this book it, so I'll assume 400 pages. So you have read three quarters of the book without having to make a decision on opening the sealed CD. Now that decision looms over you. Your choices are a) accept the license and unseal the CD, b) return the book for a full refund, c) ignore the license, unseal the CD, violate the license, and go through the rest of life knowing that you have broken your word.
We all agree that an author has a right to keep his work totally to himself, unpublished. He also has the right to place it in the public domain or otherwise allow every other person free access to it. If these two extremes are not immoral, then why is the middle ground, of only allowing a subset of people access to it, an immoral act?
I will agree that having the last quarter of the book in a PDF file to be very inconvenient. I will also agree that having to enter into a contract to access this PDF goes beyond inconvenience to the realm of onerous. If I encountered the above situation I would certainly choose choice (b) and also send a nasty note to the author and publisher. But in a free society I have no moral right to compell the author to publish the book in the manner that I wish. In fact, to tell the author that he cannot enter into any private agreements with his readers is the antithesis of freedom.
Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:1)
My junk address [mailto] if you have any more crap to spew.
I can't stand Anonymous Cowards...
resist (Score:3)
2. Take home, open CD envelope.
3. Burn 100 copies of the CD.
4. Print stickers that say "do not open the CD envelope, this copy of the CD in the envelope was provided so that you may retain your Constitutionally guaranteed right to return this book if you are unsatisfied with the contents, for a full refund"
5. Stick stickers to your CDs.
6. Sneak CDs into the bookstore, slip one CD into each copy of the book, maybe use a little edge of the sticker overlapping the CD to affix it to the inside of the cover.
7. Visit every bookstore in town, make sure every copy of the book you find has YOUR CD in it as well.
8. Sleep soundly, knowing that you are a SUPERHERO, and a Defender of Freedom and Justice in America.
9. Each time you drive past the offices of the publisher (if they're on your way to work or the grocery store or something), roll down your window, extend your fist, raise middle finger, scream "FUCK YOU! YOU FACSIST BITCHES!".
10. Spend hours reading Slasdot, posting more ideas on how to "fight the power".
Soylent Green is people!
Re:Very disturbing indeed (Score:2)
It is a little more complicated than that. Under the Maryland version, Maryland law applies. However, the enforcebility of the choice of venue clause was punted to the courts. In other words, a Maryland resident may be able to sue under the MUCITA; but, he may have to go to Washington state to do it.
Another state, Indiana-I think, said that any UCITA provisions is not applicable to residents of their state.
So the question of enforcability depends on the actual terms of the EULA, where you bought it, and the state you reside in.
Certainly the intend of this is to strip you of your right of first sale and redistribution of the book.
Depends on the actual terms of the EULA. The article doesn't make that clear. It appears that the major effect is to limit the number of returns.
Of course, I wonder what is to stop even a physical book from having a taped "seal" with a EULA that must be broken to open and read it?
Has already been litigated and found wanting. I don't remember the exact cite. The facts were that a publisher did put a clause on the front page that a book could not be sold below a certain cost. I store ignored it and sold below the stated cost. This was the case that articulated the first sale principle: the right to control distribution is limited to the first sale. After that, the holder of the copyright has no more control over that particular copy.
This was a big issue when TNT started to colorize old movies. Many directors, producers, etc felt that this was 'defacing' the work of art. However, there was nothing they could do legally since Turner bought the copyright to the movies and had the right to do with them what he wanted. There was a bill introduced in Congress that would give the artist control over the art even after he sold the rights to that piece of art.
Expect more of this type of tomfoolory in the future. UCITA only applies to computer information transfers e.g. hardware is not explictly covered. However, there was a cluase in MUCITA that allowed sellers of hardware/software to opt to have the EULA also apply to the hardware. For example, a DVD disk with player software.
If more states pass some version of UCITA and the definition of "hardware" can be extended, everything will have some portion as software with a click-wrap license.
Re:Ick. (Score:2)
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Coming soon.. (Score:2)
Re:And What Happens? (Score:1)
Write to the publishers. Ask them for another CD.
Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:2)
OS dependent? (Score:1)
Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:2)
You; I don't think that this particular business practice is right or ethical and may not buy this company's products.
Them; (totally out of the blue) Business people/artists/software programmers have a right to be compensated!
This isn't the first time where I've heard someone launch into a rant about a creators need for compensation when that wasn't even what the conversation was _about_. The fact that so many people make this mistake so often makes me wonder how this particular response became so conditioned .
Incidentaly, I know that authors wrote to be compensated. I think much of Dicken's writing would have been a blessed bit more breif if he wasn't being paid by the word.
I return all books that don't contain all text (Score:1)
Is there perhaps some law that can apply here? Maybe the one about "Not providing services advertised" or something like that?
Re:Very disturbing indeed (Score:1)
Here's a possible solution... (Score:3)
You might want to have your publisher include something like this in the shrink-wrap license for the CD-ROM:
I'm sure your publisher's lawyers can come up with something similar that will make both your publisher and your readers happy.
Re:If you have used the book all the way... (Score:1)
Re:Shakespeare's novels? Robin Heinlein? (Score:1)
UCITA AIN'T LAW - in most states that is (Score:1)
Re:OS dependent? (Score:1)
As Adobe gives away the standard version of the reader for free, most OS have a PDF reader of sorts as the standard itself is pretty well known by now
So whether you use MAC's, Windoze,*Nix,BeOs,AmigaDos, hell even my old miggie 2000 reads pdf files!
2) As long as the CD-ROM itself adheres to ISO standards it will be readable on every computer with a CD-ROM drive
Re:Class Books (Score:2)
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Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:1)
To mail me, remove the 'mailno' from my email addy.
Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:1)
Re:This is just cost cutting (Score:1)
Granted but what is just paranoia now is still legally enforceable in the future (as long as shrink wrap licenses aren't made void).
Just because your paranoid doesn't mean there not after you.
Re:Coming soon.. (Score:3)
Ideas cannot be owned and the constitution makes it clear they are NOT property in article I. Clearly contrary to the constitution, the DMCA and UCITA may choose to treat these things "like" property, but that does not make them property.
Furthermore I feel "intillectual property" is often simply ideas derived from existing public knowledge. Occasionally there is a truelly original idea (such as public key crytography, or an invention like the phonograph) but most "proprietary" knowledge is simply embezzling from the pool of public knowledge. The Amazon "patent" is a wonderful example of this, as are all the new "business model" patents.
I suppose if humans innately felt they each owned ideas exclusivily we would all still be living in drafty caves today....
Re:Ick. (Score:1)
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Using cheaper paper instead (Score:2)
Next, like most people I would be annoyed if I picked up a book that was partly there and partly not. If it is really a cost issue then the publisher should do like O'Reilly and offer a choice of a printed version or a CD version of the text. Another way that can be used to reduce the cost of a book is to use cheaper paper - like that used in paper-back novels. If using this sort of paper meant reduced costs along the line, then I would certainly consider buying the book - books tends to go out of date so fast that the bleached white paper is almost a waste of resources and cost so much. There was Unix guide that used this cheaper paper and for a 1000 pages cost on $25 (canadian) and that is cheap for a computer book here in Canada, most cost around $60 (Canadian).
Re:Buyer beware... (Score:1)
Re:So where's the immorality in this? (Score:2)
The typical knee-jerk libertarian response to any critisism of a company's practices. Why must I blaisely accept any company's practices. If I feel they are outrageous, I have the right to kick and scream and try to get others to be so outraged that they not only boycott the product; but, they also write to the publisher and bitch and moan to them directly in the hopes that they drop the practice.
Or, have libertarians modified the first amendment so that it doesn't apply to critisim of companies?
What legal or moral rights of yours is the author infringing on?
How about misrepresentation of the product? Was it clearly stated before he paid for the book that an essential part of it was on CD? Was it made known before purchase that normal product law was not applicable. What if resellers refuse to honor refunds like they do with opened software? Can a contract be binding if you had to pay to see it and had no chance of recoverying your money if you disagreed with the license?
Your choices are
You forgot
d: bitch and moan in public forums in the hopes that the publisher will stop the practice.
We all agree that an author has a right to keep his work totally to himself, unpublished.
No, we do not agree on your interpetation of copy rights. To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. (Article I, Section 8, US Consittution)
In other words, copyright is a government enforced monopoly granted to authors in exchange for certain obligations. It is not a nautral right. Until recently, one of those duties was to publish. If he didn't publish, he had no rights under copyright law. Unfortunately, Congress has recently removed the obligation of publication and extended the right longer than a "limited time".
Exactly! (Score:1)
It's really a sad state of affairs, no? And what's worse, the rest of the world is slowly but surely starting to follow the US' lead in this area...
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Re:Where is Phil K Dick when you need him? (Score:2)
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Re:Freedom of Thought (Score:1)
Re:UCITA (Score:2)
This would be a tough sell on a piece of furnature since you can use the furnature without ever reading or opening the software.
Re:So where's the immorality in this? (Score:2)
Subsequent copyright/patent law does cover some of the obligations of a copyright/patent holder, but they are NOT mentioned by the Constitution itself.
Two points (Score:2)
Working in publishing, I can tell you that the reason for the stupid seal and non-returnability clause for the CD is that publishers are afraid (as are software companies) that the consumer will simply copy the contents of the CD to their drive, and then return the book/CD for a refund. This is why ebooks will not be returnable, and why publishers are starting to LOVE the idea of ebooks...we've had great success with the non-returnability of amazon.com books (they get a steep discount, in exchange for having to eat the returns), and would love to lessen the hit we take when a bookstore orders 500 copies of a book, and then coughs them all back to us in two weeks when they don't sell.
Here's the contact info for the Delmar publisher if you want to complain directly: Greg.Burnell@delmar.com
http://www.thomsonlearning.com/press/showfactshee
Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:2)
See, if you'd read your English Lit text before returning it, you'd have known that Shakespeare was a playwright and poet, not a novelist, and that Longfellow was an American poet (Gitche Gumee was not in the Lake District).
And, of course, if you'd read any sci-fi you'd probably have known Heinlein's first name was "Robert" and that Verne lived in the 19th century. (See, that's why it's considered remarkable that he wrote about things like submarines, because he was "anticipating". Can you say "anticipating"? Try it now. I knew you could).
Maybe you need to exercise those intellectual muscles a bit before attempting the heavy thought bits, eh?
Or maybe you knew all this, because your post is starting to seem like one of those, "Find everything wrong in this picture" puzzles, like an IHOP placemat.
Re:Buyer beware... (Score:2)
explaining exactly why you are returning it (i.e. "Don't agree to licensing terms").
Sorry, but this is not exact. A more complete description would be "the last chapter is not printed." And that's what you actually pay for, that all the book's content is printed and not on a CD.
Just my .02 euro.
Re:UCITA AIN'T LAW - in most states that is (Score:2)
There are some things that I really like about living in Maryland. UCITA (along with gun control and 300+ murders a year in Baltimore) is not on that list.
The Right to Read (Score:2)
more than appendices (Score:3)
This last chapter covers plotting methods and controls (very important in the creation of maps!) and there is no valid reason to exclude it from the printed material.
Also, the book weighs in at a not-very-hefty 550 pages, and the list price is over $50 US, so I don't think publishing expense is a valid argument for this tactic.
Tax issues (Score:4)
If you have used the book all the way... (Score:2)
Not everyone wants information to be free....
Very disturbing indeed (Score:5)
Incidently, since different states appearently are all modifying UCITA in slightly different ways, the fact that some states have chosen to add consumer protections does not mean you nessisarly have them, even though you may be living in such a state. One could still have the EULA construed under a less friendly state's version of the law.
Certainly the intend of this is to strip you of your right of first sale and redistribution of the book. This is fundimentally wrong for several reasons; first, even in article I of the constitution, "copyright" as stated is both a limited right that "expires", it is neither property nor "permenant", regardless of the illegal action of our congress in the Sony Bono copyright extensions.
Altering a seal is a permenant action, and to deny further distribution or rights forever based on it seems inconsistent. Similarly, the DMCA allows for "access controls" on "copyrighted works" which remain in effect even if the copyright on a given work being so protected expires as intended!
All these efforts are clearly unconstitutional in this country and against the very notion of basic human rights, the right to communicate ideas, the right to think, things that are most basic of all.
Of course, I wonder what is to stop even a physical book from having a taped "seal" with a EULA that must be broken to open and read it?
Buyer beware... (Score:5)
The article author here appears to have bought the book over the internet, so previewing the book was not lost on him, but there are easy step to fix this: return the item, explaining exactly why you are returning it (i.e. "Don't agree to licensing terms"). Write to the book's *author* (not the publisher; authors are generally easier to get a hold of particularly) and ask why he released his book as such, and explain that it is a bad practice... it might be that the author didn't have a choice by the publisher, or was unaware of the final distribution, etc. Since the book has a limited audience (AutoCad) make sure that you post negative reviews wherever you can about the book to prevent others from making the same mistake.
Having a license on the CD, assuming that the CD has programs, is understandable. But IM(IAMAL)O, you bought the text, you have every right to use the text (including the PDF) in a format that follows from fair use. This is definitely a scary trend, and there's no way I can see it being useful save in cases where one or two chapters of a book cover something that does need licensing agreements (say, a piece of software uniquely distributed on the CD that is explained and used throughout a given chapter). The only way to fight it, as it appears to only be useful to computer topics, would be to simply outright ban books that do such, and make sure other professionals do the same, writing the various book authors at length.
Thank goodness this doesn't sound like anything ORA would try to do...
umm (Score:2)
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Are they PDF raster files? (Score:3)
The PDF raster images are a nightmare to convert. You have to print them and then scan them, and then start editing. And the files are so bloated that you can't easily move them around on the Net. It seems to me that the publishers are really being ugly if the PDF files are raster images, but only being cheap and lazy if the 100 pages went in as text and can be taken out as text. In the latter case, I think they'd end up losing any advantage they might think they have, due to illegal sharing of the material between interested parties, privately, over the Net.
Re:So where's the immorality in this? (Score:2)
Sort of... If it is *publically* published, then it belongs to the public once copyright expires. But if I give a copy to a client with an agreement that they are restricted with it in certain ways, it is a private publication, and the constitution is silent
Which is why the vendor should be required to disclose the book's "special feature" and obtain informed consent at the point of purchase, via a separate signature than the one used for credit card authorization.
I would agree [sic]. I disagree with all forms of "shrink-wrap", and this is one. One of the other respondents assumed that I was arguing against bitching about the practice. Nothing could be further than the truth. Bitch all you want, and bitch loudly! However, some posts were advocating passing laws and regulations upon publishers and authors...
Re:So where's the immorality in this? (Score:2)
My "knee-jerk" reaction was not to anyone's complaint. Complain all you want, and complain loudly! I hope they do stop the practice. However, there were several posts advocating legal restrictions upon publishers and authors (anti-free-speech). It was to these posters that I was addressing my post.
How about misrepresentation of the product? Was it clearly stated before he paid for the book that an essential part of it was on CD?
I don't know. I haven't seen the book. However most complainers did not mention that, they mentioned the restrictions on their liberty and that the practice regardless of respresentation should be banned.
Re:umm (Score:2)
If the book wasn't finished that just clearly shows two things:
1) A very crappy publisher - putting a book to print BEFORE it was finshed. Imagine buying a Dean R. Koontz book that wasn't finished. I know I'd be pissed!
2) Very ignorant and piss poor author(s). Authors that let a book go to print before it is finished is just plain silly. They should be ashamed! That just tells me not to buy ANY book by the author, since they have shown to be very sloppy in the past - putting an unfinished book to print.
Solution:
Don't EVER but a book by authors that do this sort of thing and never buy a book from that publisher again. Both have shown they are incapable of having any inteligence and common sense. Not to mention that they are crooks!
Re:Class Books (Score:3)
As an author (of an upcoming Linux-related book), I agree with a previous poster's suggestion that you should complain to the author directly rather than to the publisher. It happens that I finally arrived at a contract with very favorable publishing terms, but I got bounced between several publishers at first, and they could have really screwed me over if they wanted to (and they do want to - if you ever wish to write a book, enlist the services of a competent contract lawyer before you sign!!). It's very possible that the author in this case didn't really have a choice, but he would probably like to hear your opinion on it, and might be able to provide a point of view you haven't considered yet.
-John
Re:Tax issues (Score:3)
I got this from a usually reliable source, but it also fits the facts as I see them: check out the prices of (say) programming books with and without CD's. The average price of the ones with CD is not 17.5% higher than the others (indicating VAT on the book). Likewise Linux books with a free copy on linux in the back - it's a CD with VAT on it, but the VAT'able value is almost nill as the contents are free - thus no increase in cost.
IMHO, IANAL, etc etc,
Mike.
Re:Illegal in the u.k. (Score:2)
I know I'm gonna get flamed for this... (Score:5)
The decision was made to put this text on the CD-ROM to reduce the overall price of the book and make it less "telephone directory" like (as it is, it will tip the scales at 1,200+ pages). These appendices were requested by people who felt that the first edition of the book assumed that the reader was able to program and understood Ohm's law. These appendices are not central to the theme of the book and are superfluous for many readers.
I feel that in this case, putting the appendices on CD-ROM was a good compromise. The information on them is not part of the overall book, but is important information for some readers. The same amount of work (and cost) was put into making the pdfs as if they were going to be pages.
The reason for going with the software copyright statement for the pdf appendices was due to feeling from the McGraw-Hill (who publishes my books) corporate lawyers that this was the most appropriate method of protecting the electronic text/files/format.
I've written eight books so far and in none of these cases, sending a partially completed manuscript is acceptable. I doubt McGraw-Hill is any different in this regard than any other publisher. Even with seasoned writers, not many publishers are willing to start the copyedit/layout process without a completed manuscript, there is just too much danger or later chapters requiring substantial changes in early chapters.
I suspect that the last 100 pages of Inside AutoCAD Map 2000 are appendices and site links that are actually very appropriate in pdf format. Anything else will get the book/author/publisher hammered on Amazon.com and other Internet resources (like /.).
The pdf of the last 100 pages was probably done for cost reasons, but before you judge the situation, let's get some facts on what is contained in the pdfs. If it is straight text, then the complaints are justified. If it is appendices with vendor/site links, then maybe consideration should be given as to whether or not this is an appropriate way for providing this information.
As the Human Torch used to say: "Flame On!"
Re:Buyer beware... (Score:3)
IMO, the problems we are having with IP and DMCA, etc, all stem from the fact that the organizations that are 'publishers' (getting one person's IP out to millions) are no long publishers, but trying to be owners of the works as well. This weakens the contribution of the original person's work, and promotes so-called mass marketing where not-as-highly-liked-but-highly-creative IP creators are shunned over highly-liked-but-not-highly-creative ones. Stephen King sees this, Smashing Pumpkins see this, the indy movie scene sees this.
IMO, the publishing companies should be forced (yes, forced, as this is in a sense, anti-trust) to remodel their practices; they should go back to being true publishers, where a guy can come along with a manuscript and $10,000 to make 10,000 copies of a book, telling the publisher that he keeps the right, and gets a majority of the profit, the publisher keeping the cost of book printed and a modest fee. The publisher can also act as the distributer, which would take a bit more of the profit from the sale. The publisher cannot own any copyright that it 'prints' unless it created it themselves. This type of system would allow all creative players an equal share in the market, and would remove the power of RIAA and MPAA like groups from controlling the market -- those books and CDs that are actually *liked* by people would be bought, not those that are artifically forced to the top.
Freedom of Thought (Score:2)
No country that I am aware of has directly stated in law that people have the right to freedom of thought. They come at it indirectly, protecting other freedoms that are the outward manifestations of it. The closest are references to freedom of conscience. I's starting to wonder if it is time to have a repository online for time-stamped, encrypted documents containing our personal thoughts on various technical topics, just to protect ourselves from having something too similar claimed as someone else's intellectual property tomorrow.
Re:Buyer beware... (Score:2)
UCITA vs. the Supreme Court (Score:3)
Bobbs-Merrill can in some ways be considered a "shrink-wrap" license case. In this case, the publisher Bobbs-Merrill had printed a novel, 'The Castaway' and had printed a notice in each book that it was not to be sold at retail for under $1. The Straus brothers, who owned and operated Macy's, sold the book at $0.89, despite the warning and were sued. The Supreme Court ruled that there was no contractual obligation between the 2 parties and copyright law did not grant the publisher control of the copies after they had been sold at wholesale. This finding is called the "first sale" doctrine.
Eventually, a modern "shrink-wrap"/UCITA vs. "first sale" case will reach the Supreme Court. Personally, I suspect "first sale" will win, though I'm not a lawyer...
Shakespeare's novels? Robin Heinlein? (Score:2)
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This is just cost cutting (Score:2)
This is just a standard way to reduce the amount of dead trees they use and is all about profit margins no more no less
They don't put the shnrink wrap license on their to stop you reading the offending chapter before you buy, its just the standard legal droids guff they use...theres no intentional harm here I'm sure
After all don't all cd roms usually have those shrink wrap agreements ?
Too much post Napster paranoia is going down here, this is just standard business practices no conpiracy, no deal to screw the consumer its just plain old cost cutting
And What Happens? (Score:3)
What Happens when the book is hit while still on the shelf by a CD thief. I don't know how many times I've been looking at books and their CD's have been "Liberated" from them.
How do you finish a 10 chapter book you can only get 8 chapters of, or how do you read a CD in the John. These are questions the publishers should have asked themselves.
Thanks for the heads up, I know I'll be checking the last chapter in the next books I get!
Re:Authors deserve income too (Score:5)
This is how copyrights work. They were not made to reward authors for their works; that part is only a means to the real end. The real end is to eventually enrich the public domain (this is why copyrights expire, although for human authors they only expire long after the person has died). It does this by providing authors a financial incentive, but in return for that incentive the author gives up some rights (such as control over how something is used by people who legitimately pay for it).
Corporations don't like giving up that kind of control; the sad fact is that ethics are rarely as profitable as unethical means. That's why they've been backing UCITA and the DMCA; they want to take legitimate rights away from the people all in the pursuit of The Almighty Buck. It's also why they have to be stopped; the government is supposed to exist primarily for our benefit, not theirs.
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Re:Class Books (Score:2)
Rant: Evil's of Free CD's in books (Score:2)
I was tempted to mail in the business reply card ("What do you think of our textbook?") with a story about not being able to buy baby formula because of the $20 price hike for the FREE CD ;)
Totally irrelevant (Score:2)
"whatta ya mean my RedHat CD doesn't have apache for windows bin's on it???"
Re:umm (Score:2)
Great, now they're releasing patches for books!