Saint Olave's Law Society Journal ; Issue 01 (Autumn 2013) | Seite 16

Saint
 Olave’s
 Law
 Society
 Journal

PUBLISHING
 LAW

FELICITY
 KENNY

concerning
 your
 work
 do
 you
 have
 to
  register
 it;
 however
 it
 is
 advisable
 that
  you
 keep
 some
 paper
 proof
 of
 date
 etc.
  such
 as
 mailing
 yourself
 a
 copy.

  Defamation
 in
 writing
 form
 is
 called
  libel
 and
 the
 law
 of
 libel
 originates
 from
  the
 17th
 century.
 There
 are
 different
  rules
 regarding
 libel
 depending
 on
  whether
 you
 are
 an
 ordinary
 citizen
 or
  are
 either
 a
 celebrity
 or
 public
 official.

  For
 an
 ordinary
 citizen
 to
 prove
 libel
  has
 taken
 place
 they
 would
 first
 have
 to
  prove
 the
 statement
 was
 false
 the
  statement
 caused
 harm
 or
 pain
 and
  thirdly
 that
 the
 person
  writing/publishing
 the
 libel
 did
 not
  conduct
 adequate
 research
 to
 ensure
  validity.
 However
 a
 person
 of
 public
  interest
 on
 top
 of
 this
 would
 have
 to
  prove
 the
 statement
 was
 made
 with
 the
  intent
 of
 causing
 harm.

  Contracts
 for
 publication
 vary
 greatly
  depending
 on
 the
 publisher
 and
 the
  genre
 of
 book.
 If
 a
 publisher
 is
  interested
 in
 a
 book
 they
 can
 make
 an
  agreement
 with
 the
 author
 for
 the
  copyrights
 of
 the
 final
 product.
 This
  agreement
 would
 usually
 include
 an
  advance
 based
 on
 what
 the
 publisher
  expects
 the
 book
 to
 make,
 but
 as
 this
  agreement
 is
 usually
 made
 with
 an
  unfinished
 book
 there
 is
 a
 satisfaction
  clause
 in
 the
 agreement,
 which
 is
 one
 of
  the
 most
 controversial
 aspects
 of
  publishing
 law.
 Under
 this
 satisfaction
  clause
 the
 publisher
 has
 the
 ability
 to
  refuse
 to
 publish
 the
 book
 and
 demand
  back
 any
 advance
 payments
 they
 had
  made.
 This
 clause
 was
 included
 to
  protect
 the
 publisher
 and
 ensure
 the
  author
 continues
 at
 the
 standard
 with
  which
 they
 commenced
 the
 project.
  However
 many
 authors
 contest
 this
 law
  as
 publishers
 can
 use
 it
 to
 dismiss
 an
  idea
 for
 an
 invalid
 reason.

By
 definition
 publishing
 law
 is
 ‘the
 body
  of
 law
 relating
 to
 the
 publication
 of
  books,
 magazines,
 newspapers,
 electronic
  materials,
 and
 other
 artistic
 work’,
 yet
 it
  is
 one
 of
 the
 more
 complex
 aspects
 of
  the
 law
 in
 that
 there
 is
 no
 single
 area
 of
  law
 which
 it
 is
 governed
 but
 is
 in
 fact
  derived
 from
 various
 other
 laws
 such
 as
  intellectual
 property,
 defamation,
  contracts
 etc.

  Before
 publishing
 a
 book
 the
 publisher
  first
 has
 to
 investigate
 whether
 it
  violates
 any
 copyrights
 or
 trademarks.

  Trademarks
 prohibit
 using
 certain
  words,
 marks
 and
 symbols
 in
 certain
  contexts,
 whereas
 copyright
 forbids
 the
  use
 of
 for
 example
 a
 body
 of
 text
 or
 a
  piece
 of
 music.
 Although
 ideas
 cannot
 be
  copyrighted,
 storylines,
 characters
 and
  settings
 can,
 interestingly
 titles
 cannot
  be
 copyrighted
 which
 is
 why
 you
 find
  many
 books
 and
 songs
 with
 the
 same
  name.
 When
 writing
 a
 book
 with
  characters
 who
 live
 in
 a
 world
 identical
  to
 our
 own
 it
 is
 difficult
 to
 prevent
 use
  of
 trademarks
 such
 as
 “aspirin”,
  “escalator”
 and
 “hovering”,
 however
  there
 are
 legal
 theories
 in
 trademarking
  such
 as
 “trademark
 dilution”
 which
  “forbids
 others
 from
 using
 that
 mark
 in
  a
 way
 that
 would
 lessen
 its
 uniqueness”.
  A
 current
 example
 is
 Google
 whose
 legal
  team
 have
 been
 trying
 to
 prevent
 the
  term
 “googling”
 being
 used
 for
 the
? ? concept
 of
 searching
 the
 Internet
 as
 it
  relates
 solely
 to
 Google
 Inc.
 rather
 than
  all
 search
 engines.
  Gaining
 copyright
 for
 your
 work
  however
 is
 far
 easier
 “The
 Copyright
  Designs
 and
 Patents
 Act
 of
 1988”
 means
  that
 your
 work
 is
 protected
 the
 moment
  you
 create
 it
 in
 a
 form
 “perceptible
  either
 directly
 or
 with
 the
 aid
 of
 a
  machine
 or
 device.”
 And
 only
 when
 you
  wish
 to
 sue
 or
 raise
 a
 complaint

  Issue
 01

 Autumn
 2013

 16