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IDPF Revisited

Category: Publishing , Digital Publishing
Just recently we mentioned the press release from the International Digital Publishing Forum in which they announce the new emerging standards for eBooks.

There's a counter-perspective (of sorts) located here - ironically, it was penned by Jon Noring one of the contributors to the IDPF project itself. Noring calls the press "cotton-candy" as opposed to a genuine effort at standardization.

From article:
"Just as it has been the last few years, I don’t see IDPF truly interested in promoting a single, open, universal, consumer-level digital publication format standard, along with a single, industry-managed, consumer-friendly DRM standard. IDPF must believe by focusing on this “open” Container standard, which can contain a bunch of proprietary formats, and slip in OEBPS through the “back door,” that they can convince the world they are promoting a single universal open standard, but I simply see it as smoke and mirrors."

Read the entire piece here.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 29, 06, 3:43 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Springer Releases eBook LIne

Category: Publishing , Copyright Law , E-commerce , Digital Publishing , Bookselling
According to a recent article in Publishers Weekly, publishing company Springer has launched "its newest initiative to deliver its content electronically. The Springer eBook Collection debuted June 24 with more than 10,000 e-books...Springer is offering its e-books without any digital rights management software."

Find the complete article here.

You will also find an interesting online conversation among industry experts, execs, and the like entitled "Is It e-Book Time?" - read others' comments, and post your own as Publishers Weekly asks the question: "Springer's announcement about a new e-book product is just the latest example of renewed interest in the format among certain sectors of publishing. With that being the case, do you believe e-books will evolve into a viable segment of the industry?"
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 28, 06, 6:09 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

British Publishers VS. U.S. Publishers

Category: Publishing , Bookselling
In an article from the Deutsche Welle News network details of a re-emergence of the long standing tensions between U.S. and British publishers are brought to light.

From the article:
"A long-standing trade battle over the right to sell English-language books in Europe has reignited between British and American publishers, with the UK feeling the threat of cheaper US editions at its front door."

Read the entire article here.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 22, 06, 12:21 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Office Suite Teams Up With Creative Commons

Category: Publishing , Copyright Law , Digital Publishing
According to a press release issued by Microsoft, the mega-company is teaming up with the non-profit Creative Commons to offer copyright licenses directly in the MS Office suite of products for application to Powerpoint, Word, and Excel projects.

From the article:
"The goal of Creative Commons is to provide authors and artists with simple tools to mark their creative work with the freedom they intend it to carry,” said Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of Creative Commons. “We’re incredibly excited to work with Microsoft to make that ability easily available to the hundreds of millions of users of Microsoft Office.”

The Creative Commons copyright tool addition is already available for free download at the MS Office site, here.

Read the entire release here.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 21, 06, 7:16 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Standards for eBooks Emerging

Category: Digital Publishing
In a recent press release from IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum) comes this news:
"Major software companies and device manufacturers have announced plans to support new electronic book standards developed within the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). The companies will support these standards in their next generation software and devices, alleviating many of the previous file interoperability and production issues affecting the eBook industry and its customers."

The IDPF, formerly the Open eBook Forum (OeBF), according to their website "is the trade and standards association for the digital publishing industry." The group welcomes membership from book, magazine, journal and newspaper publishers, booksellers, software developers, authors, and other groups interested in digital reading.

This news will most certainly impact the future of traditional publishing - which way the individual publishing houses will go with it remains to be seen.

Learn more about the proposed specifications for the standardization as well as those being set for the 'containers' (both abstract and physical) that will be used to store, access, and read eBooks in this PDF from the IDPF website.

Read the full press release here.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 20, 06, 1:24 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Two New and Notable Book Industry News Sites

Category: Publishing
There are two new websites to add to your favorites list - for both industry insiders as well as those who simply love books: Fiction News.com and Nonfiction News.com.
Both sites provide the latest news and information on new book releases, book reviews, short stories, author information, and of course, the current best-seller lists in each category.

Both sites are run by David White, who according to an article in Upstage Magazine, is both a lifelong reader and published writer. Criteria that ensure the sites are comprehensive and worth a look.

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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 19, 06, 7:19 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Amsterdam: World Book Capital 2008

Amsterdam has been selected by UNESCO (the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) as the World Book Capital of 2008.

From the UNESCO Media Services page:
"Every year, UNESCO and the three major branches of the global book industry – the International Publishers Association (IPA), the International Booksellers Federation (IBF) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) – designate a city as World Book Capital for the 12 months between two celebrations of World Book and Copyright Day (23 April). This initiative, taken by UNESCO’s General Conference, is now an integral part of world-wide activities promoting books and reading."

Amsterdam is the eighth city to be designated World Book Capital, after Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006) and Bogotá (2007).

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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 16, 06, 8:53 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Shakespeare: Google's Newest Project

Category: Google
Google has just launched a new website, spun from the Google Book Search model, devoted solely to the writings of Shakespeare.

Now visitors can view the entire works of all the great bard's famous titles including: "Love's Labor Lost," "The Comedy of Errors," and "Hamlet."

From MSNBC:
"Users can even plug in words, such as "to be or not to be" from "Hamlet," and immediately be taken to that part of the play.

The site, which was introduced in conjunction with Google's sponsorship of New York's "Shakespeare in the Park," also provides links to related scholarly research, Internet groups, and even videos of theater performances of Shakespeare plays."

Read the entire article here, or visit Google's new site here.

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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 15, 06, 8:35 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Awww, cute...

Category: Copyright Law
While the very serious battles over copyright, fair use, and plagiarism rage on in all sectors of media and communications there is one dashing superhero, Captain Copyright, making his way through Canadian public and private gradeschools, extolling the "A, B, C's of Copyright" and so on.

It's really not a bad idea - getting them younger and educating them on the issue, before they get it into their heads to illegally download that book or music track in the first place.

The website also has a section that Canadian teachers of grades 1-8 can access for classroom tools toward teaching the basics of copyright law to their young students.

This link was sent to us by a visitor who noticed our growing collection of copyright-related oddities and such.
If you find a link to something regarding copyright law, and it's a bit off-the-wall, please feel free to email us .
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 12, 06, 4:35 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Copyright Law vs. Intellectual Property

Category: Copyright Law , E-commerce
Richard Stallman, at E-Commerce News, pens his own interpretations of the meaning and purpose of Copyright Law vs. Intellectual Property, while analyzing yet another article discussing the same.
An interesting, and worthwhile read, particularly considering the recent battle going on over the issue.

From article:
"What the Constitution says is that copyright law and patent law are optional.... They are not rights that their holders are entitled to; they are artificial privileges that we might, or might not, want to hand out to encourage people to do what we find useful."

You will find "Don't Let 'Intellectual Property' Twist Your Ethos" here.

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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 9, 06, 12:41 PM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Google Book Search Under Brit Fire

Category: Publishing , Copyright Law , Google
British publishers have now joined the argument against Google's Book Search.

From article:
"Lynne Brindley, chief executive of The British Library, didn't appear surprised that Google has found itself at odds with the established print industry.
'There's not necessarily a coincidence of interest between search engines and copyright holders,' said Brindley.


Laurie Kaye of Laurence Kaye Solicitors backed up this point.


'Commercial players are concerned about the loss of control over their content. Their content database being held on other servers creates uncertainty. I'm not going to go into the legalities of what Google is doing.'"

Find the article, sourced from ZD Net, here.

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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 8, 06, 10:21 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Is 'Fair Use' Getting a Fair Trial?

Category: Publishing , Copyright Law
This article, in response to upcoming legislation regarding copyright, music download issues, and in particular the definition of 'fair use' is on many a publishing executive's desk today as the industry watches with keen interest what's going on on the other side of the neighbor's fence.

From the article:
"The new Section 115 Reform Act (SIRA) of 2006 is scheduled for markup tomorrow, and the EFF is sounding the alarm. "Why the rush?" they ask. "Because otherwise someone might notice that the bill represents an unholy alliance between the major music service providers (AOL, Yahoo, Apple, Real Networks, etc.) and [the] music publishing industry. If the bill passes, they win, but fair use loses..."

"The EFF says, 'This is dangerous language that creates a dangerous precedent. When courts look at how copyright should apply to new digital technologies, they often have few judicial precedents for guidance and thus they turn to the Copyright Act itself for clues about how Congress views similar issues. Incidental copies made in the course of otherwise lawful activities should be treated either as outside the scope of a copyright holder's rights or as a fair use (even the Copyright Office agrees on the fair use point). But you can be sure that the copyright industries will use SIRA as a precedent to the contrary in future fights.'"

Read the full text of 'Will "fair use" be fundamentally redefined this week?'
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 7, 06, 7:39 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

Upcoming Event: BookExpo Canada

Category: Publishing , Bookselling
Anticipating yet another BookExpo, this time in Toronto, Canada, being held June 9th - 12th:
"From high profile author breakfasts to a dynamic Conference program, BookExpo Canada features non-stop action that mixes business with pleasure as Canada's book industry comes to life."

Find the complete listing of events, guests, and topics at the official event website.

For a current, brief article on Canada's industry stats click here.

To find more publishing industry happenings both national and international, click here for a current industry events calendar.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 6, 06, 7:20 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

The Floodgates are Open

Category: Publishing
It seems the 'digital issue' is dominating the publishing world these days, and why not - it's changed the face of publishing, printing, and even reading and writing.

In today's New York Times, an article "Digital Publishing Is Scrambling the Industry's Rules" references just this very issue and the ways in which it is now engaging both readers and writers, while making the publishing industry very nervous.

In a recent 'experiment' one author posted his manuscript online for review and commenting in-process, by site visitors. Another author drafted, edited, and made available for free his entire book online. 
In the second case, the need for a traditional publisher was eliminated completely, which is why "...hovering above the discussion of all these technologies is the fear that the publishing industry could be subject to the same upheaval that has plagued the music industry...

Leading the way, or at least trudging along with everyone else, into the next generation of books is The Institute for Future of the Book where development of fresh new reader/writer-software, online collaboration and editing of in-process books, and speculation on how to bring the book with us into the future has been going on for quite some time. 
Rather than fight against the inevitable process of progress, this group seeks to redefine the role of each key player in the publishing industry - and in particular they are including the reader.

If it is this trend of consumer interaction and participation that so worries the industry, perhaps a reevaluation of just who authors are penning for in the first place, is in order.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 5, 06, 6:19 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

World eBook Fair in the Works

Category: Publishing , E-commerce , Digital Publishing , Bookselling
It's so new, the official website is still under construction, but that isn't stopping people from talking about the upcoming World eBook Fair, sponsored by Project Gutenberg (the volunteer-driven, free ebook library project).

The month-long ebook 'fair' which runs from Juy 4 to August 4 in 2006, is intended to be an annual event.

From an article on Boston.com:
"The catalog of available works will include fiction, nonfiction, and reference books, mostly those that are no longer protected by copyright. ``It will include the oldest books in the world, including every author you have heard of in your life, other than current ones," said Michael Hart, Project Gutenberg's founder. The fair also will offer classical music files, both scores and recordings, as well as films."

Read more about the event here.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 2, 06, 6:56 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post

What're We're Reading

With so many great industry blogs, it's hard to find the time to read them all.
Here's a small sampling of who and what we've been perusing lately:

Cup O' Books, Bookologist, Using Books, and Shelf:Life.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , June 1, 06, 7:28 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post
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