About that latest SWFA thing
It seems there is a website called Scribd that allows you to download the works of Heinlein, Pornelle, and other famous authors without paying the authors a dime for their work. When SWFA went through a laborious process to get the site to take away the pirated content, by accident one work that had been voluntarily donated into the public domain, a book by Cory Doctorow, got taken down also, and Mr. Doctorow publicly and vehemently objected.
Here is Jerry Pournelle:
http://www.chaosmanorreviews.com/open_archives/jep_column-326-a.php
John Scalzi:
http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/2007/09/about-that-latest-sfwa-thing.html
Cory Doctorow:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/30/science-fiction-writ-1.html
As you can probably guess, my sympathies are with Pournelle. I know an old window whose income rests on royalties from reprints of her dead husband’s body of work. Scribd, at least in her case, was taking bread from the mouth of a widow.
Take it from a ex-law student: preventing someone from freely distributing material you have placed in the public domain does not give rise to a cause of action for which relief can be obtained. it is not infringement, or libel, or unfair trade practice, or tortious interference with contract. In fact, since he donated his work into the public domain, Mr. Doctorow has NO cognizable legal interest in the dissemination of the work. None.
UPDATE: I just went over to the site, and on my first search, found copyrighted works by Robert Silverberg and James Gunn. I also saw the letter from Scrbd to SWFA as the first thing they display on their splash page.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
