The looming problem in ebook copyright may curtail the growth and longevity of this burgeoning industry. The problem seems to be developing in three areas that will only compound over the coming months as different e-readers and ebook retailers enter the market. The three main issues are copyright protection, proprietary […]
Intellectual property
6 posts
ETEXTBOOK DREAM The glossy ads of e-reader device makers would have you believe that they will usher in a new era of reading. They claim their devices will revitalize newspapers, magazines, and textbooks by transforming them into multimedia formats of Potter-esque perfection. That vision may someday be realized, but only […]
Nicholas Carr refers to the great unbundling in his book The Big Switch. Carr claims that the internet is unbundling content from newspapers and other media forms and creating large value for commercially driven content that can be easily “added” or linked to click-thru ads. What I’d like to examine […]
An upcoming development in e-readers will be the battle for revenue from non-English content. Though Amazon has made large strides in English ebooks their international rollout of the Kindle has left them somewhat vulnerable on this front. A fully capable e-reader that allows UTF-8 and thus can display every language […]
Amazon’s Digital Text Platform (now KDP) and all those services that copy it will necessitate the rise of Cloud and crowd editing. Large publishers so deeply ensconced in their current business model will lose control of a lucrative share of their publishing business. They will demonize their customers, and […]
Okay, let’s first get a few things clear. Copyright has completely altered our relationship to books and we have Sonny Bono and Mickey Mouse to blame for that. Bono sponsored an extension of Copyright to protect Walt Disney’s characters. It seems Disney is a little sensitive about their beloved characters […]