Copyright in Canada

If you happen to have a little time available for some reading on the topic, Michael Geist has come up with a freely downloadable, peer-reviewed collection of essays on copyright in Canada. The download site is here.

Comments

Copyright law definitely needs more reform. The current happenings in our Bible study group is a perfect example. The book we're studying is out of print, and copyright law prevents making copies (in theory anyway). I'm all for protecting author's rights, but if copies were available absolutely we would buy them.

Canadian Pacific Steam Locomotives by Omer Lavallee is another great example. It's been out of print for years, and the only copies are available second-hand, at a seriously inflated price. The profit is going to the previous owner of the book, not the publisher or author's estate. IMHO that's highway robbery.

I think that once a book is out of print, copying should be permitted. The copy should not be sold for more than the cost of reproduction, so that no profit is made (ideally such books should be distributed electronically so that there is no reproduction costs). Alteration of the written work should be permitted only to correct mistakes made by the original publisher. (Example: a photo is credited to Gordon Hall but was actually taken by Jim Little and supplied by Gordon Hall from his personal collection).

I think that once a book is out of print, copying should be permitted.

On the other hand, if a book is out of print and there is sufficient demand then the publisher can do another run.

On the other hand, there's rarely enough demand for older books to justify a full run...costs a lot of money to print a batch of books. Additional runs might happen with a newer book, but an old one like the Lavalle book Scott mentions is rarely reprinted.

I'm not crazy...oh, wait, nevermind.

If the publisher is willing to do another run, then that's cool, but like Darren mentioned it costs quite a bit so the publisher usually stipulates a minimum number of copies. If you can't find enough people, they might not want to reprint, in which case you should be allowed to make your own copy.

Alternatively, publishers could be a little more willing to do smaller runs. Sure that increases the cost of the book, but at least give the people interested a quote instead of flatly turning them down. In the case of the Lavallee book, I expect it would cost less to reprint than to buy it on Amazon or eBay.

In the case of the Lavallee book, I expect it would cost less to reprint than to buy it on Amazon or eBay.

Assuming that I got the book title correct, Lavallee's book can be obtained for about $100 or so if you look in the right places online. Why would it necessarily be cheaper to (buy a) reprinted edition?

List price for Nicholas Morant's Canadian Pacific is $90, although Chapters does have it listed at 30% off. From what I recall of the contents of the Lavallee book, I'd expect the Morant book to have a larger economy of scale.

Maybe it's just that I've been in school this long, but for books with a small print run, I've gotten relatively used to paying $100 or so.

If you can't find enough people, they might not want to reprint, in which case you should be allowed to make your own copy.

Well, if you were willing to pay a higher price then they'd be more likely to print. Assuming my search on BookFinder4u.com turned up the right book, it's not unobtainable; it's just that you aren't willing to pay the price that's being asked.

$100 is a very good price for Lavallee's book. Whenever I've seen it, it's been more than $200. I'm willing to pay around $100, but not more than $200. The book originally retailed for less than $100, and even if you want to drag inflation into this more than $200 is outrageous. I'm more willing to pay a high price if the profit were going to the publisher and/or author's estate, but with used books that's not the case.

I'm sure Morant's book is very nice, but the Lavallee book is THE defacto steam locomotive reference.

BTW: The Lavallee book on BookFinder4u.com is not the book in question. If you can find it elsewhere, let me know.

I would expect a reprinted edition to cost less than a used copy because rare books tend to be priced outrageously by the current owner. The used copies would not be devalued by much since they are after all first editions. Another advantage to reprinting is that errata and addenda can be incorporated into the original text.