[Web4lib] Copyright and Book cover images

[Lars Aronsson]

Will Kurt wrote:

> I have a question that I've been curious about for awhile, but haven't been
> able to find an answer to.  What are the copyright issues regarding the use of
> book cover images, especially ones from Amazon?
> 
> I've noticed a lot of websites (LibraryThing for example) will pull images
> from Amazon, often directly linking to the image hosted on Amazon's server.

The use of Amazon's images on LibraryThing.com is not a matter of 
copyright law, but of contract law.  LibraryThing is an affiliate 
of Amazon.com, having a contract that allows them to republish 
Amazon's images in return for linking back to the Amazon.com 
website, where the book can be purchased.  And when this happens, 
LibraryThing.com gets a referral fee.  If you click on an image, a 
link to Amazon pops up, where part of the URL is 
"ref=nosim/librarything08-20", showing the partnership ID.

One of my websites (susning.nu) is also an affiliate of 
Amazon.com, for exactly the same reason.

Most public libraries would probably find that endorsing one 
bookstore (and not the local one) in this way is incompatible with 
their mission.  I have no idea if Amazon.com has a contract with 
every publisher, or what that contract looks like.  Perhaps 
they're simply building on the age-old tradition that book cover 
images are used (in print) by bookstores for advertizing.

Some book covers are works of art and covered (!) by copyright in 
their own right.  I have no idea exactly how far "fair use" can be 
stretched here.  Other book covers have little more artistic value 
than the title page of the book.  And the title page (and 
sometimes the table of contents*) is already transcribed in full 
in the library catalog, without the need for any special 
permission from the publisher.

(*) The other day I found this library catalog entry for a 
childrens songbook, where every song is listed in the catalog,
http://websok.libris.kb.se/websearch/search?SEARCH_NUMM=9163841444


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se