[stylist] Here is info about the February Telephone Gathering- American Association of Publishers

[Robert Leslie Newman]

Dear you all
RE: Later today I'll have the recording up on my website (URL at the bottom
of this message).
I'll also be shipping it to Peter to put it on the Writers' Division's site.


We had ten people on the call. Allan was --- very informative (he is a super
nice guy, a lawyer by profession and --- very, very informative in his
explanations. He did speak to what the American Association of Publishers
will do and cannot do for its members. 

#2 He spoke about the issues we the blind have with getting digital books
for school (there not being a problem with K-12 school books because of the
set nature of what books will be used and so it is more easily controlled by
the publishing industry, itself; but not so with college books- where K-12
school districts set the book list and all kids in all classrooms use the
same books, in college the professors choose what will be used and some of
that material is from the new publishing world, and some books then are
chosen which are from copyright dates from years past and are only available
in hardcopy. 

Plus, he made a great point- the publishers are not the ones who are causing
the production of so many different formats for E-Books (think of the
Kendal, the iPadd, the Knook, etc.). It is the electronic manufacturers and
their striving to outdo their competitors who are creating and then changing
hard-ware which then changes the media to be played and they all think their
formatted is the best! And so the hard-ware E-Book makers call the tune that
we and the publishers dance too.

#3 Also, he got into SOPA (did I get that acronym right?), protecting your
work (different than copyright) and how U-Tube and other sites are and the
Internet in general is so wide open and hard to regulate and --- well,
interesting to listen to this part. 

#4 Yes, he did answer specific issues dealing with present day Copyright
law. And essentially he said: There are two --- well, levels of Copyright-
The first is: as soon as you write out your work, get it "fixed" as in a
state that can be accessed and used by someone, like on paper, or an audio
recording, or in a computer file, then it is Copyright protected. 

The second level or type is:  you get your work registered via the uS
Copyright office. And this is what you would have to do if you wished to
legally cover yourself if someone were to use your stuff and you needed to
sue them for damages. 

So think of it- Just writing it out its copyrighted. And by what may be said
to be no more than a legal agreement, a gentleman's agreement, a point of
honor, you are okay. But if you need to enforce that copyright protection,
you have to have registered it. 

If you wish to copyright your work, you can do this on-line or in hard-copy.


Also, copyright is not just one thing, as in giving you writes concerning
the publishing of your book or poem. Allan suggested viewing copyright as a
bundle of rights. Yes, it covers the right to reproduce and distribute your
work; this is only 1 of a half dozen rights. There is the right to translate
your work into other languages.   There is also your right to publish
derivative works of your book like a screenplay or a movie. Also, is the
type of book to be distributed , such as a hard-cover or soft-cover, or an
audio book or an E-Book. And all this is important when you like do a deal
with a publishing company --- you get more money for each of these rights
you sell them. 

But hey, check out the recording. Like I say, Allan does a super complete
job --- that covers history of all this and the law and the --- everything
of it and --- well, some of it got a little too long, but interesting. (The
dude is a lawyer)



Robert Leslie Newman
Personal Website-
Adjustment To Blindness And Visual impairment
http//www.thoughtprovoker.info
NFB Writers' Division, president
http://www.nfb-writers-division.net 
Chair of the NFB Newsletter Publications Committee