UK laws broken by piracy of novels
I'm preparing some briefing notes on various open licences and I'm looking for some clarification on legal aspects of standard practice in the UK. (If there is a better SE site for this question feel free to move it.)
Let us say a novelist has a book published in the UK, and the book is later scanned and distributed for free on the internet by a malicious third party. What UK laws have been broken? I mean, one can certainly see how it would be hurtful and damaging to the industry, but I'm interested to know which specific laws have been broken - is it exactly the same as for, say, music and film, or is it covered separately?
PS I'm asking specifically for UK law here, but I'm sure that answers dealing with US law will be informative and interesting; I'd like to see them, they just won't help much with the problem I have...
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1 answer
I believe the most relevant law is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents
Terms are defined in Part I, Chapter 2. Section 17 (2) defines infringement by copying for literary works:
Copying in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work means reproducing the work in any material form.This includes storing the work in any medium by electronic means.
That would be the scanning part. As for distribution via the internet, Section 20 (2) (b) includes in 'infringement by communication to the public':
the making available to the public of the work by electronic transmission in such a way that members of the public may access it from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.]
Caveat: IANAL.
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