New French Law Impacts Ebook and Other Rights -
Friday, March 02, 2012
A new law just passed in France empowers Bibliothèque Nationale de France to create "a freely accessible online database" of all works--not just orphans--published in France before 2001 that are currently out of print. This is goes beyond what Google was proposing to do with its transfer of rights.
It applies to books orginally published in France and also those translated foreign-language books--that went out of print in France--not necessarily elsewhere--before 2001. If authors--who may or may not be notified of their inclusion--do not opt out within six months, they lose control of the digital display and sale of their work.
Petitions are being circulated and signed by French authors protesting the law.
For more about this, you can read an excellent blog post at http://networkedblogs.com/uG5LT,. Watch for updates here!