Comments on: US copyright office fights for international rightsholders. Where were our governments? http://activitypress.com/2009/09/11/us-copyright-office-fights-for-international-rightsholders-where-were-our-governments/ Martin Taylor on ebooks and media from a Downunder perspective Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:29:47 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Martin Taylor http://activitypress.com/2009/09/11/us-copyright-office-fights-for-international-rightsholders-where-were-our-governments/comment-page-1/#comment-7109 Martin Taylor Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:20:08 +0000 http://activitypress.com/?p=720#comment-7109 Interesting point, Bill. I think there's some truth to this but rather than being just a matter of pandering to the big corporations, I think it has more to do with the fact that some of these industries have very well-resourced lobbying and legal operations. Lobbying is an expensive and time-consuming business with a long "sales cycle". The book publishing industry for one is not in a position to make much noise so the squeaky wheel is always elsewhere. We need to address this somehow but that means serious cash from goodness knows where. Interesting point, Bill. I think there’s some truth to this but rather than being just a matter of pandering to the big corporations, I think it has more to do with the fact that some of these industries have very well-resourced lobbying and legal operations. Lobbying is an expensive and time-consuming business with a long “sales cycle”. The book publishing industry for one is not in a position to make much noise so the squeaky wheel is always elsewhere. We need to address this somehow but that means serious cash from goodness knows where.

]]> By: Bill Bennett http://activitypress.com/2009/09/11/us-copyright-office-fights-for-international-rightsholders-where-were-our-governments/comment-page-1/#comment-7107 Bill Bennett Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:03:08 +0000 http://activitypress.com/?p=720#comment-7107 What concerns me here is when this issue is set alongside the movie industry lobbying over illegal downloads of films and music there appears to be a double standard. It seems New Zealand has one law for the big powerful Hollywood corporations - copyright is sacrosanct and we'll change our legal protection to defend your huge profits. And there's another law for authors and book publishers - most of whom are individuals with relatively small budgets. Here the government will let a single, large corporation walk all over the copyright law. Whatever the reality, this creates an impression big corporations will get what they want from the government. Not encouraging. What concerns me here is when this issue is set alongside the movie industry lobbying over illegal downloads of films and music there appears to be a double standard.

It seems New Zealand has one law for the big powerful Hollywood corporations – copyright is sacrosanct and we’ll change our legal protection to defend your huge profits. And there’s another law for authors and book publishers – most of whom are individuals with relatively small budgets. Here the government will let a single, large corporation walk all over the copyright law.

Whatever the reality, this creates an impression big corporations will get what they want from the government. Not encouraging.

]]>