[Web4lib] Copyright and Book cover images

[Alain D. M. G. Vaillancourt]

Hello!

For many years I've been doing research on the use of low resolution
images (such as 48 by 48 or 128 by 128 pixels) in document
identification (wether the document is a book or not) and whenever this
topic pops up I sigh heavily, because of the US custom of incessant
lawsuits.

In many industrial countries all book covers from any country are
automatically covered by an automatic form of copyright which applies
to any visual creation.  The creators and/or editors of the cover don't
even have to apply for it.

In many industrial countries an image copy which is a significant
reduction of the book cover does not constitute a breach of copyright,
since it falls under what is called "fair use" in those countries
having their commercial law derived from British law and customs. 

But what is a "significant" reduction?  In the US there are enough
lawyers around to argue that even a tiny low resolution 48 by 48 pixel
icon is not reduced enough, and the presence or menace provided by
these lawyers is enough to discourage many potential developers of such
systems, and has been enough to prompt the creation of the service 
offered by the Syndetics corporation, as someone else has already
mentoned.

Alain Vaillancourt

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
En finir avec le spam? Yahoo! Courriel vous offre la meilleure protection possible contre les messages non nollicités 
http://mail.yahoo.ca Yahoo! Courriel