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Subject:Re: Copyright Clearance Center From:Guru <guru -at- BOM5 -dot- VSNL -dot- NET -dot- IN> Date:Thu, 19 Nov 1998 00:34:01 +0530
Beth,
No, I do not know about it, but I know of an international association in
England (ALS -- Authors License Society, or ALPS?) where you can pay a fee
and become a member. Then the society ensures that you get all your
copyright dues for all the books and papers that you have published.
Several of the authors provided testimonials at a conference in
London(Computers & Writing 95) about the usefulness of the society. They
were receiving similar checks.
As you are aware, a fee has to be paid for usage of copyrighted material (be
it papers, music, etc). In European countries apparently it is quite
successful and lot of money comes back to writers (specially writers of
scholarly papers).
In India, we do have an organization for music and other such copyrights but
not for books and journals. The organization collects the copyright fees
for playing music in public places (bars, planes, music halls, theatres,
etc) and pays the money to the copyright owners.
Please note: we are not talking of book royalties (paid by publishers) here.
In case of papers and other such material a copyright fee is collected when
copies are made for distribution ("reprints").
I think such organizations are above board. Of course, sometimes the fees
maybe $100 and what you get is $100! But then there are authors who may get
$1000 or 5000!
>Has anyone ever heard of the Copyright Clearance Center?
>
>I'm currently working for someone who's had several technical books
>published, and he recently received a check for around $250 from this
>organization. According to the enclosed material, this is royalties
>for non-specific copying in Netherlands, Germany, and Spain, where
>photocopy license fees are charged.
>
>On the face of it, this looks like free money. Does anyone know if
>there's any catch we might be missing?
>
>Their web site, by the way, is www.copyright.com.
