In: Economics
For most of the 1800s, the United States did not recognize the copyrights of books written by foreign authors. As a result, many U.S. publishers printed “pirated”—unauthorized—editions of Charles Dickens and other British authors without paying them royalties. A history of book publishing noted, “[U.S.] publishers claimed that pirating [foreign] works allowed their prices to remain low, which in turn made the works more accessible to the public at large.” There were (eventually successful) attempts in Congress to recognize foreign copyrights in exchange for other countries recognizing U.S. copyrights. At the time, one U.S. publisher described these efforts as the “clamor of two hundred authors against the interests of fifty-five million people.” Do copyright laws benefit authors at the expense of readers? If so, why does the U.S. Constitution give Congress the right to enact copyright laws?
Source: J. P. Romney and Rebecca Romney, Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History, New York: Harper, 2017, pp. 218, 227.
Claims made by US publishers which state that recognition of foreign authors was at the cost of %% million uses can not completely accepted nor denied. When copywrites are in place, royalty needs to be paid for to the writers and this increases the cost of the final book for the consumer. Copywrites are crucial since they are set in place to protect the work done. It forms a sort of a reward for the hard work of the artist of the writer.
If the book is well written people will pay the price to buy it. A lot of people in the current times prefer E copies of the book that are cheaper and easy to carry.
There are other reasons like IPR (intellectual Property Rights) that other countries follow. Writers can claim for their work citation done without prior permission. There can be monetary punishments and legal actions that can take place. In situations of legal suits, acknowledging the copywrite can help trace back to the original source for further clarification of the context. Had this been missing, the law suits would directly be push on to the publishing house.
As true as the claim made by the US publishers of increased cost is, it is equally important to give credits where they are due.