h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If you open any book to the legal page at the beginning, you will find more or less the same copyright notice (it begins 'this book is sold subject to the condition that...', although subtle differences may apply).

If you examine the notice carefully you should start to see some very odd inferences. Here are some that I've noticed:

You are not allowed to lend the book to anybody. Therefore, the book can only be read by one person, and if anybody else in your household wants to read it, they will have to buy a copy for themselves. Suppose a family household of four people all wanted to read all of the Harry Potter books - they would end up paying for twenty Harry Potter books!

Since the book cannot be 'otherwise circulated', you are forbidden to place the book on a carousel, or move it around a room in a circle.


Even worse is the copyright notice that appears in the front of some books that begins 'all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be...'

This notice says that you cannot reproduce any part of the publication. Therefore you may not mention the name of the book in any written form.

You cannot store any part of the book in a 'retrieval system'. This forbids the scanning of a page of the book into a computer using a scanner, of course, but oddly, it also forbids that you store any part of the book in your memory (which is a retrieval system). You have to read the book and then forget everything you read as soon as you read it.

'transmission' of the book or a part thereof is also prohibited, which forbids the use of light to transmit the information contained in the book to your eyes. It also stops you from quoting anything from the book, or reading the book aloud.

And if you think I'm just being too literal here, I draw your attention to the legal clause called 'The Literal Rule', which I believe (at least in the UK) states that all legal things must be taken literally.


So, in the light of this information: hands up if you have broken copyright law.

*raises hand on those criteria*

*takes books carefully down from carousel*

Wait...the Earth is revolving, does that count as circulation too?

Yes indeed, EE, I suppose the circulation of the Earth would count, if things are to be taken literally.

Are we all felons then?
And is there any get-out-clause that I have overlooked that proves our innocence?

*ponders all the illegal second hand book shops, and second hand/charity shops selling second hand, circulating, books I feel it is not my duty I think I've the third* of two* copies of a medical book in the UK; its amazing what you can do with a scanner

The get-out clause in at least one book I looked at read: "in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published".

I presume that second-hand bookshops are not technically illegal because they have the authorisation of the publisher.

And the get-out-clause as pointed out seems to say that intended usage of the publication is permissible, whilst it does not say what the intended usage was.

Hooray! I am a criminal!

Hey, what about libraries?

*puts boring hat on*

Yes, the important bit, as pointed out above is the 'in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published'. The 'literal' rule assumes that one takes the whole sentence into account (to be fair, it is a very, very long sentence!).

Copyright law only forbids copying key parts (e.g. the whodunnit bit of a whodunnit) or more than 'five percent or one article/chapter, whichever is greater', and even then one must be doing so for a non-commercial purpose. In the UK anyway.

David

I suspect libraries have authorisation from the publishers.

Car-boot sales, on the other hand, are basically black market festivals according to the copyright notice.

Jb's got it right... If you read on you'll discover...


This book may not be [insert restrictions here] without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other that which it is published

in one single sentence...

Therefore all those restrictions you've mentioned, lending, selling, etc. are only applicable if you tear the cover off or replace it.


(except the information retrieval system bit of course... If you take a human brain as being an information retrieval system then we're all in a lot of trouble )

Great. That settles that then.

It depends whether information can really be retrieved from it. A bit too much and we'd be OK (at least in terms of copyright!)