ON COMPETITION BETWEEN THE RULES OF THE ELECTRONIC BOOK TRADE MARKET PLAYERS AND THE RIGHTS OF THE AUTHOR
Dear Head of Publishing Service .i .....!
In response to my letters dated June 05, 2021 and June 08, 2021, I received, in particular, two letters from .i ......
"June 8. 2021 10:50
Vladimir, good afternoon!
We have received your letter, thank you.
Please wait for a response from a specialist.
The queue of letters is large, the waiting time for a response is 2-3 working days.
Yours faithfully,
customer support manager
.i ...... ru "
"June 8. 2021 17:06
Hello Vladimir.
The book ['Учебник писательского успеха. Часть I. Генрих Шлиман и его уроки' ('A tutorial of a writer's success. Part I. Heinrich Schliemann and his lessons')] was removed from publication May 07, 2018 and since then it has not been on sale
On the site https://books.google.ru/books?id=bt5EDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT159&lpg=PT159&dq=%D0%90%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BE%D0%BD&source=bl&ots=s-A7_W-SXQ&sig=ACfU3U3ZwMEGegP8bO-IPjXQG14TPhY01g&hl=ru&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwic-7PL-f_wAhVDtIsKHQrNCU0Q6AEwEnoECB4QAw#v=onepage&q=%D0%90%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BE%D0%BD&f=false, which is a partner of L ......, a free fragment is presented http://joxi.ru/V2VppaOtkyxMGr.
Please note that there is no electronic version http://joxi.ru/v29DD4pcpx3L6m, and there is no way to order a printed copy.
Each site has the right to establish its own publishing rules. According to these rules, free fragments remain on the websites of L ...... partners, which are deleted only if extremist materials are found in the text.
Since the book is not for sale, there can be no talk of compensation for moral damage.
Have a nice day!
Yours faithfully,
M ........ N ......,
head of the department of publications of the publishing service .i ...... ru "
I thank .i ...... ru for answers.
I note the following significant points:
1. You are talking about the existence of rules established by the participants of the e-book trade market.
2. You (indirectly) acknowledge the placement of the passage from my book. ("... free fragments remain, which are deleted only if ...")
3. You are talking about the absence of grounds to compensate me for moral damage.
In this regard, please take into account the following:
1) I have deep respect for the e-book market participants and the rules they set.
At the same time, in accordance with the principle of good faith and reasonableness, these rules should be mutually beneficial for e-book trade organizations and for authors.
What is my benefit - as an author - in the current state of affairs? The fact, that I have not received a single ruble from an electronic service for more than 20 books?
We have to admit that in a number of cases the rules come into conflict with the rights of an author.
2. Placing a fragment would not cause me any objections in situation, if we continued cooperation with .i ...... ru. But due to the absolute disadvantage of cooperation (for me) [lack of any benefits, unprofitableness], I terminated commercial relations with .i ...... ru and demanded to stop using my books - completely (in whole).
In violation of my will, the use of my book continues.
3. You are talking about the absence of grounds to compensate me for moral damage.
This does not quite correspond to my formulation of the question. This can distort the perception of my position.
I believe that when the author's rights are violated, there is mixed damage - both property and moral.
Possibilities for other types of damage could also be discussed, such as reputational damage. However, for this case, it is probably unnecessary to go into theorizing and discussion.
Additionally, please consider the following.
As a consumer of media products (listener to radio broadcasts), I also note that the posting information about my book and the placing of a "free snippet" on the site CREATES OPPORTUNITIES - this situation allows to collecting data on the demand for my book.
Even without being a skilled e-bookseller, I have a rough understanding of how this data MAY be used.
As a private person who does not specialize in private detective work, I have no reliable information about the actual use of this information to sell my book through the parallel schemes.
But information about the use of a variety of data for selfish gain - by various illegal methods - this information is publicly available.
Why if the collected information is used in unlawful ways in various spheres, the book trade should be excluded from this process?
I don't think that the criminal actors have much respect for books and for the rights of authors. But even if we assume the existence of such respect, then even with this assumption, selfish interests will dominate.
Overall, I was disappointed to read the answer from .i ...... ru. This answer leads me to believe that in some cases there is competition between the rules of players in the electronic market of books and the rights of an author.
Best regards, Vladimir Zalessky.
June 9, 2021 05:22
[MMСLX. A dexterous use of the author's content. A diary note. - May 13, 2021.
MMСCIII. A letter on issue of copyright protection. A diary memo. - June 8, 2021.].
Translation from Russian into English: June 9, 2021 08:08.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Письмо о конкуренции между правилами игроков рынка электронной книжной торговли и правами автора. Дневниковая заметка'.