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general alert to all authors re Legal Deposit

Ernest Bywater 🚫

due to getting tied up with legal deposit in Australia i just looked at the situation on a wider basis and found this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_deposit

In Canada, the Library and Archives of Canada Act (2004)[8] specifies that up to two copies of any published material must be deposited with Library and Archives Canada. Materials deposited in the archives are catalogued; the catalogs are available as part of the Library and Archives Canada website. The province of Quebec also requires deposit of two copies of any document be deposited to Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec within 7 days of its publication.

In the United States, any copyrighted and published work must be submitted in two copies to the United States Copyright Office at the Library of Congress.[56] This mandatory deposit is not required to possess copyright of unpublished works, but a copyright registration can give an author enhanced remedies in case of a copyright violation.[57] The Library of Congress does not retain all works.

Replies:   REP
Vincent Berg 🚫

The stipulation (at least in America) about "published works must be deposited", does not apply to authors, but to libraries. Also, the 'requirement' for all works to hold a copyright is not mandatory, possessing a copyright (which requires a substantial fee) simply extends existing benefits.

All this talk about 'requirement' is entirely misguided. There is NO requirement for authors to submit their works to a central repository anywhere! It's simply a badly phrased 'call for submissions'. So let's climb off our own hysteria.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater  REP  PotomacBob
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Vincent Berg

All this talk about 'requirement' is entirely misguided. There is NO requirement for authors to submit their works to a central repository anywhere! It's simply a badly phrased 'call for submissions'. So let's climb off our own hysteria.

In Australia there is a legal requirement with a penalty of a fine of $100 or more for each time you don't do it. The NLA doesn't appear to be enforcing it, but they could.

REP 🚫
Updated:

@Vincent Berg

There is NO requirement for authors to submit their works to a central repository anywhere!

17 U.S. Code § 407 - Deposit of copies or phonorecords for Library of Congress

(a) Except as provided by subsection (c), and subject to the provisions of subsection (e), the owner of copyright or of the exclusive right of publication in a work published in the United States shall deposit, within three months after the date of such publication—

(1)

two complete copies of the best edition; or

(2)

if the work is a sound recording, two complete phonorecords of the best edition, together with any printed or other visually perceptible material published with such phonorecords.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/407

ETA: There are also fines defined in that section for failure to comply with the submission requirements.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@REP

In traditional publishing, it's normally the publisher who takes care of dispensing requisite copies.

My own, uninformed, take on self-publishing in the UK is that nobody submits copies of self-published works to the authorities unless on an ego-trip.

AJ

Vincent Berg 🚫

@REP

(a) Except as provided by subsection (c), and subject to the provisions of subsection (e), the owner of copyright or of the exclusive right of publication in a work published in the United States shall deposit, within three months after the date of such publication—

Copyright is separate from a submission requirement. You're not required to submit a copyright, and your work is still protected, even if you don't. What's more, you can't be arrested for something you submit for copyright (only for shipping pornographic work across state lines).

Replies:   REP
REP 🚫

@Vincent Berg

Copyright is separate from a submission requirement

You need to reread what (a) states. It has nothing to do with copyrighting the work. It says the Owner of the copyright must submit the work that has been copyrighted and published within 3 months of the publication date.

PotomacBob 🚫

@Vincent Berg

I thought the fee was for registering the copyright. Don't you gain the copyright as soon as your work comes out of your typewriter? Legally, the copyright is yours even if you don't register it. What registering it provides is evidence (as of the date of registration) that you claim the work as your own. Without registering it, you may lack the evidence of your claim.

REP 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

It is an interesting situation EB. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone who publishes something (i.e, in print and verbally} were to submit it to the appropriate organization. They would be buried in submissions. Think of all the bloggers who post opinion pieces on the Internet, the people who submit videos to YouTube, and many others who publish without complying with the submission laws.

Laws are enforceable. However, if the law is only enforced on a few occasions, I suppose a case could be made for discriminatory practices.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@REP

It is an interesting situation EB. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone who publishes something (i.e, in print and verbally} were to submit it to the appropriate organization.

I know. Since I'm now 30 months into a legal battle due to being bitten by an unpublicised law change I felt I should just let everyone know what the article said, then let them decide what action they wish to take. I've already started depositing e-copies with the NLA to cover my butt. Others can do what they want.

Ross at Play 🚫
Updated:

@REP

The NLA requirement is restricted to "literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works".

It is limited to artistic creations, not everything anybody writes or says.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Ross at Play

It is limited to artistic creations, not everything anybody writes or says.

Everything I write is artistic, even forum posts.

robberhands 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

Everything I write is artistic, even forum posts.

That's because you are not just anybody.

Ross at Play 🚫
Updated:

@Ernest Bywater

Everything I write is artistic, even forum posts.

Right back at ya. Forum posts are where I learned writing artistic.

I presume this law applies some Common Law meaning of what is deemed "literary".

PotomacBob 🚫

@REP

I suppose a case could be made for discriminatory practices.

In most cases, discrimination is legal. It is legal for you to discriminate against me because you don't like the way I part my hair. It is legal for you to discriminate against me because you don't like the way I write. It is legal to discriminate because "there's just something about you I don't like." It is illegal to discriminate on the basis of those things prohibited by law (if the law applies): i.e, race, religion, etc.

Replies:   robberhands
robberhands 🚫

@PotomacBob

In most cases, discrimination is legal. It is legal for you to discriminate against me because you don't like the way I part my hair. It is legal for you to discriminate against me because you don't like the way I write. It is legal to discriminate because "there's just something about you I don't like."

It's legal for a private person, but illegal for the state to discriminate for arbitrary reasons.

Ross at Play 🚫

Australian authors may protest against this inequity by refusing to vote.
Hold on! ... We can be fined for that too.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Ross at Play

Australian authors may protest against this inequity by refusing to vote.
Hold on! ... We can be fined for that too.

That's why so many often vote for the donkeys or informal.

Replies:   Ross at Play
Ross at Play 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

That's why so many often vote for the donkeys or informal.

Thankfully, we do not risk being fined if we make our protest by casting an informal vote.
Actually, I am very much in favour of compulsory (attendance to) voting. I think it's better for the society because the alternative can become two completely polarised camps striving to "energise their base" instead of contesting the middle.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Ross at Play

I am very much in favour of compulsory (attendance to) voting.

Another aspect where we have it over the US system is for the federal, state, and local elections we have to be registered on the rolls before hand, and we have to prove a legal right to be on the rolls before they list us. Thus non-citizens have absolutely no say in any of the elections.

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