Degrees of Ownership: Books
Copyright Law entitles one legal ownership of the expression of an idea. As
such, books may be copyrighted for the words they use, rather than the message
they convey. When an author writes a book, she may have it copyrighted in order
to ensure that she has sole rights to publication. Usually (and ideally) an
author finds a publisher to publish the book, promote its sale, and otherwise
deal with the aspects of sale that the author is not likely to be interested
in.
When someone buys a book, he has ownership of that copy only. He may use it as
he desires, but is prohibited from making copies and distributing them. In
order to make copies, he must pay royalties to the publisher. A library,
which lends a book innumerable times to the public free of charge is using
its free rights as owners of a single copy.
Last modified: Mon Jun 5 07:22:14 PDT 2000