2 blogs ago, I discussed about e-readers and its immense potential to replace printed books. The lack of user-friendly features, low battery life, and its steep price render these impractical to use at present. However, as more and more key players enter the e-reader manufacturing industry, more innovations are introduced with the aim of sculpting these devices into the perfect book replacement. Not everyone is happy though. Proliferation of e-books comes at a price. The book industry is already reacting nervously in anticipation of widespread book piracy with the advent of e-readers. It is the same fear that haunted music producers at the time when mp3 and file sharing were introduced to the public.
Considering the foregoing, should e-reader manufacturers be worried of future litigations concerning book piracy? To answer this question, one must go back to the classic case of Sony Corp vs. Universal City Studios. In this case, Sony mass produced Betamax – a contraption which enables users to record TV programs that are broadcast over the public airwaves. Walt Disney and Universal City Studios, which owned the copyrights on some broadcast TV programs, sued Sony for “contributory infringement” in producing technology with the ability to record TV programs without the consent of its copyright owners. In a 5-4 ruling by the US Supreme Court, Sony Corp was absolved of any liability for the selling of Betamax devices under the Doctrine of Staple Article of Commerce. This means that if the device has at least a single substantial non infringing use, then there is no contribution to copyright violation.
The landmark case of Sony Corp v Universal City Studios gives us a test in determining whether a device for recording or copying is violative of copyright law. If this doctrine is to be applied to e-readers, we can surmise that manufacturers need only prove a non infringing use to escape the legal consequences of infringement. This is easy to pull off. In fact, the biggest bookseller of the world, Amazon, sells e-readers and legitimate e-books to its customers. The ease of proving non infringing use may very well remove all e-readers from the ambit of copyright infringement.
Because of the inevitable rise of e-readers and e-books, it is easy to predict that book publishers will face an inevitable end should they stubbornly cling to their outdated business models. If they want to survive, they should ride the tide of technology and bring their battles in the "1s" and "0s".
Sources:
“Are We Due a Wave of Book Piracy?” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8314092.stm
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