Abstract
Although the USA, Canada, UK and Australia currently retain territorial copyright laws, with commensurate restrictions on parallel importation of books, advances in technology and the advent of e-books have caused an involuntary migration of the book across these defined borders. This changing publishing sphere has impacted on authors’ copyright protection, with authors struggling to come to grips with breaches of copyright outside the protection of their own borders. Additionally, the extra-territorial publication of books are often in breach of authors’ copyright but difficult to address locally. A secondary consequence of the changing publishing environment is the loss of cultural essence of literary work, where books have been adapted to suit audiences in another country at publishers’ behest - e.g. Australian authored books published in the USA – only to find their way back to Australian readers via the internet.
This paper deals with the copyright issues faced by authors once their books enter the digital sphere, as well as the difficulties associated with overseas publications of their books, from a cultural perspective. It examines whether territorial copyright borders still afford book authors effective copyright protection in the digital sphere, and further, whether the culture of the book is being eroded through the prevalence of extra-territorial publications. In addressing these issues the paper incorporates recent qualitative and quantitative research conducted by the author (as part of her PhD thesis) through interviewing and surveying published Australian authors nationally. The findings of the research show that, whilst publication in the digital sphere poses significant challenges for book authors, their responses to copyright challenges are varied and inconsistent, depending on their viewpoints. Furthermore, it concludes that territorial copyright borders in Australia have become blurred, and are ineffective in preserving authors’ copyright and the cultural dimensions of their books.
This paper deals with the copyright issues faced by authors once their books enter the digital sphere, as well as the difficulties associated with overseas publications of their books, from a cultural perspective. It examines whether territorial copyright borders still afford book authors effective copyright protection in the digital sphere, and further, whether the culture of the book is being eroded through the prevalence of extra-territorial publications. In addressing these issues the paper incorporates recent qualitative and quantitative research conducted by the author (as part of her PhD thesis) through interviewing and surveying published Australian authors nationally. The findings of the research show that, whilst publication in the digital sphere poses significant challenges for book authors, their responses to copyright challenges are varied and inconsistent, depending on their viewpoints. Furthermore, it concludes that territorial copyright borders in Australia have become blurred, and are ineffective in preserving authors’ copyright and the cultural dimensions of their books.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
| Event | SHARP 2013 Annual Conference: Geographies of the Book - University of Pensylvania, Philadelphia, United States Duration: 18 Jul 2013 → 21 Jul 2013 http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/lectures/SHARP2013/ |
Conference
| Conference | SHARP 2013 Annual Conference |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Philadelphia |
| Period | 18/07/13 → 21/07/13 |
| Other | In the introduction to their recent book-length study, Geographies of the Book (Ashgate, 2010), editors Miles Ogborn and Charles W.J. Withers observe: "... taking the geography of the book seriously in parallel with the history of the book means that such geographies must be about more than just mapping the distribution of printers, printing presses and printed words. As we have argued, the geography of the book enters into the very nature of the book itself." (p.10) It is in the spirit of this notion of "geography" contained with the "nature of the book" that the organizers of the 2013 SHARP conference have borrowed, respectfully, the Ogborn and Withers title for the Philadelphia conference. Our intent is to provide SHARP members with the opportunity to explore the complex relationship between geography and the book as object and idea. Philadelphia is ideally situated in the American mid-Atlantic, and, historically, served as a key hub of the transatlantic book trade in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It is our hope that the Conference theme will appeal to a wide range of scholars, custodians, and students of book history, and the various geographies within which these histories manifest. |
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