Re: public domain and distribution

On Thu, 30 Sep 1999, MJ Devaney <mdevaney[_at_]toexcel.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks to everyone for their help on this. Let me see if I can collate
> the various responses:
>
> Stephen Fishman notes that if a work is PD in the U.S. but still under
> copyright in a foreign country, a publisher would need permission from
> the copyright owner to distribute it in the foreign country. Jeroen
> Hellingman from the Netherlands says that he is able to buy. e.g.,
> Dover editions of books by non-US authors that are PD in the US but
> still protected in Europe via amazon and other on-line companies, but
> Joseph Pietro Riolo says Dover won't mail certain books to certain
> countries. The picture that I'm getting from these responses is that
> one can't distribute a book in a country where that book's still
> protected from within the borders of that country or from a website in
> that country. So, a US publisher couldn't sell a book still protected
> in the UK or in Europe at amazon.de or amazon.uk without obtaining
> permission from the copyright owner, but could sell it it amazon.com
> without such permission . A US publisher could take an order over the
> phone from a customer in the UK or in Europe for a book and ship it to
> him/her, but couldn't use a distribution service in the UK to sell the
> book there.

I had a chance to take a quick look through boxes and found the catalog from Dover Publications, Inc.

On the inside of the front cover in the box with the heading "MARKET RESTRICTIONS", it starts with:

     Unless otherwise indicated, books may be sold to all parts of
     the world. When a market limitation exists on any particular
     title, the following symbols are used.

Then, it lists 15 different symbols. I only indicate two of them:

     EUK - May be sold anywhere Except the United Kingdom.
     EJ - May be sold anywhere Except Japan.

I looked through the catalog searching for two examples. They are:

     QUILTS TO WEAR, Virginia Avery.  Make designer-quality
     quilted jackets, vests, blouses, suits, other items.
     Equipment, materials, designs, fillers, batting, hand and
     machine sewing, more.  Over 190 illus. 168pp. 8 1/8 x 11.
                                       (EUK) 26336-3 Pa. $9.95

(the above appears on page 21)

     L'HEURE ESPAGNOLE IN FULL SCORE, Maurice Ravel.  Lighthearted
     musical romp, full of orchestral color and evocative sound
     effects, concerns a clockmaker and his unfaithful wife. 
     208 pp. 9 1/8 x 12 1/4.          (EFG) 29289-4 Pa. $12.95

(the above appears on page 33; EFG means "May be sold anywhere Except France and Germany")

> Do I have it right that the crux of this matter is where physically one
> sells the book from?

Yes and also the location of the person or entity that you are selling to. I know that people will look for ways to bypass the restriction. For example, if a person in France wants to order the second book above, he will ask his friend in U.S. to buy it and mail it to his house in France.

Another interesting thing: I checked www.amazon.com and it did not say anything about the restriction on the above two books.

Regards,

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com> Received on Fri Oct 01 1999 - 23:00:39 GMT