Discussion:
What is the name of your state? California
A group of entrepreneurs are considering launching a new venture involving book summaries of health books, similar to the busienss model of Soundview Exectuive Summaries used for Business books. Obviously, the goal of the company is be a screen for readers so they only buy health books that are relevant to them and not ones that are just hot sellers. Summaries do not replace the actual books, but are a 10-page user friendly summary. Think as them as the modern version of Cliff's Notes.
We are trying to develop a better understanding of the copyright laws around summarizing books and would love to have a discussion with an IP lawyer who is an expert on the subject.
In particular, we interested in these fundamental questions:
1. Assuming you do not use single line of text directly out of the original book, is it fully legal to write, publish and sell a book summary?
2. Can you use a photo of the book on the cover of the book summary without written approval from the publisher or must you work with the publisher?
3. What are the key risks associated with summarizing books in general?
4. What differences are there, if any, between the Business Book industry and the Health Book industry in relation to IP protection?
Any help / comments would be greatly appreciated.
regards,
Theodore
Answer:
Most of your questions are pretty specific to your business, and really need to be discussed with an attorney who can review ALL of the relevant facts and issues and advise you accrodingly.
1. Assuming you do not use single line of text directly out of the original book, is it fully legal to write, publish and sell a book summary? Fully legal? Hard to say. Whether or not you use a "single line of text" or not, copyright covers more than simply the actual words used in a work. What you are really asking is whether a summary of a book is a "fair use" of the copyrighted work or not. This is a very fact-specific question that will depend on exactly how the summaries are written and constructed. In general, however, it is likely possible to write a summary in a way to not run afoul of copyright laws. Generally speaking, the more of the "gist" of the book you give away, the less likely it is for your summary to be found to be a "fair use." Unfortunately there is no bright-line rule that says one thing is okay while another is not -- it's a balancing test.
2. Can you use a photo of the book on the cover of the book summary without written approval from the publisher or must you work with the publisher? No, you'll need permission from the publisher.
As for your other questions, these are specific business-related questions that really should be answered by your own attorney who can review all of the relevant facts in question.