klapt.net

There are no other words than “stupid” or “insane” to the recent PR stunt of the US Authors Guild calling Amazon Kinlde’s text to speech technology “illegal” (see http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/02/10/authors-guild-claims.html). It’s most likely the Germans will follow suit.

This alleged “audio right” isn’t.

It’s like reading abook using glasses. But I’m sure you’d find a way to call “reading with glasses” a derivative under copyright law … maybe even plain reading?

Get a life … !

Google will pay $125 million in a settlement with the Authors GUild and AAP (the american publishers’ association), which still must be approved by a federal judge before it takes effect. $34.5 million will be used to set up an independent Book Rights Registry. Authors whose books have been scanned in Google’s book project might get tiny a share of the money “at least $60, depending on how many rightsholders file claims”, as the Authors’ Guild tells on their website.

The settlement will also establish a mechanism of Google selling books to users (individuals and libraries) and sharing the revenues with rights holders.

Paulo Coelho got quite some press exposure after his speech at the Frankfurt Book Fair last week — which he startet with a reference to the heretic Giordano Bruno. Quite purposefully, I think, as he goes along picturing himself as the “pirate Coelho” who is giving his books away for free, on the Internet and (good forbid) via peer-to-peer networks.

But Coelho went even further — he invited his readers to shoot films based on his novel The Witch of Portobello. The results of this competition can be found on his blog. Also, Coelho staged a virtual exhibition for readers sending him their photos of reading Coelho which he used as a backdrop for the Frankfurt Book Fair. There is the author connecting with his readership using the Internet.

So is he the new bad kid on the block or the (re-)inventor of the book in a world 2.0?

This is ‘The Author’s Rights Awareness Campaign’, and our message to the public is: ‘Texts don’t grow on trees. – It is all about authors’ rights. Respect the authors’ position. Get to know their economical situation – also and particularly in the digital era. Become their partners.’ Equally, our message to authors could be: ‘Texts don’t grow on trees. – It is all about your rights: Use your rights for bargaining. Make people your partners in text.’ Eventually it is your, the authors’ choice how you want to use your rights.