Booksquare

It is a general rule of life that the party who drafts a contract is the party who benefits the most. Sure, it’s not a law or anything. Think of it as more of a guideline. Thus, when Simon & Schuster announced (in a quiet, not designed to stir the waters way) that it was […]

We realize that many of you think that Booksquare is a well-oiled, well-planned, and well-considered machine. Some of you may even be under the impression that we plan our posts in advance. That is untrue. Most days we wake with a vague notion of maybe writing something brilliant. Most days, we end up erring on […]

As many of you are aware, we strongly advocate a little thing called “knowing what you’re doing”. This does not contradict our position when it comes to Making Stuff Up. Quite the contrary. We believe, among other things, that people who sign contracts should know what the contracts say. We also believe that people who […]

We find our attention diverted by a rather interesting little pieces from BBC News where we are told the John Steinbeck’s children from a first marriage have been awarded rights to his novels and — apparently — two pictures produced by Paramount. Something about: US District Judge Richard Owen said US copyright laws now recognised […]

Just before we headed off for our long weekend of fun, fun, fun, we paused over Sara Nelson’s comments about Kevin Kelly’s New York Times Magazine article “Scan This Book”. Nelson specifically takes issue with Kelly’s comments on copyright — even as she agrees that there are serious problems. Copyright in this country is a […]

We don’t normally cover awards and such, what with so many being, well, awarded that it’s hard to keep up. But the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was awarded to Geraldine Brooks for her book March, and the very notion of this book highlights a favorite topic of ours: art building upon art. March tells the […]

It is difficult to admit, but the Da Vinci trial has become one of our most-watched (or, in our case, read) events. Unlike all the other silliness in the world, this trial is exposing an important issue: who owns ideas? Or as the Los Angeles Times puts it: If it were a run-of-the-mill copyright claim, […]

We know how hard it is to get worked up about copyright. All those funny ©’s and time frames and what is fair use, anyway? So it’s always nice to have a copyright primer handy. Plus they make great party favors! Bloggers and copyright mavens alike can always use a refresher on truths and myths. […]

We have spoken at length on our thoughts on used book sales — not a bad thing, but, boy, it would be nice if the authors got themselves a piece of that pie. One thing each and every person who’s weighed in on this topic acknowledges is that the doctrine of first sale is alive […]

“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” -T.S. Eliot Hmm, in one of those funny coincidences, the song playing on the stereo is Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips’ (okay, it’s Luna without the rest of the band) Ginger Snaps. It blatantly cribs from the theme song from the Mary Tyler Moore show (“You’re gonna make it […]