[ruby-talk:11280] Re: Programming Ruby is now online

On Wednesday 21 February 2001 17:24, Dave Thomas wrote:
> Guillaume Cottenceau <[e-mail]> writes:
> > Dave Thomas <[e-mail]> writes:
> >
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > > The book is released under an Open Publication license, so you're free
> > > to make copies--see the file COPYING in the download for details.
> >
> > That's odd: I got the paper version of the book under my eyes right now,
> > and it's printed:
> >
> > -=-=--
> > Copyright (c) 2001 by Addison-Wesley.
> >
> > All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, blah
> > blah, without the written permission of the publisher.
> > -=-=--
>
> The book was printed before all this happened. I'm not a lawyer, but I
> _think_ the copyright covers the form of representation, so that means
> that the book can be copyrighted by AWL and then the download can have
> a different copyright.
>
>
> Dave


I am not a lawyer either, but have been bitten by several so do suffer a bit 
from the disease. :-)

A lot depends upon your contractural arrangements with the publisher as to 
who is the actual owner of the copyright and to what extent and degree the 
various bundles of rights associated with it are divided among the auhtor(s) 
and publisher. There are lots of variations in these kinds of arrangements.

If the publisher was granted the printing and reprint rights and the authros 
retained all others, then the open publishing release is at their option 
(assuming any time restrictions in the original contract with the publisher 
were followed), although it would still be a violation of the publishers 
rights to make photocopies of the printed book and distribute them. By the 
same token, if Stephen Spielberg wants to make "Programming Ruby -- the 
Film", AW would have no part in this, unless, of course, the original 
contract with them states otherwise.  If, as is common in the publishing 
field, AW is the copyright owner and Dave and Andy are technically "artists 
for hire", well, then we have a problem here.

But I am sure everyone involved has contacted their respective attorneys in 
advance of making the book available as an open publication in electronic 
form, yes?  If not, you can be sure the publisher is, or will!

Re the Latex versions....again, dependent upon original contractural 
arrangements, the publisher may have the right to restrict distribution of 
this, as it can be used in typesetting for a print version.  I that that if I 
were the publisher, I would have those kinds of restrictions, all other 
things being equal.

So the question is, who owns the copyright to the original work? It is 
possible for the publisher to have total copyright to the printed version, 
and the authors retain copyright to original together with the rights to 
distribute in electronic form. Again, much depends upon the initial 
contractural arrangements.

Regards,

Kent Starr
[e-mail]