13th April 2011, 04:23 PM
Martin Locock Wrote:I couldn't find any prohibition of the re-sale of books and videos by charity shops - they juts can't make and sell copies.
Exactly. Resale of original items is fine.
There's a great US site on copyright, most of it is general and applicable to any country that is a signatory of the Berne Convention. Brad Templeton's commonsense guide to copyright myths would be of use as a starting point for general research on the topic.
As for enforcement, there are a lot of smaller groups that work hard to enforce their rights but without big money behind them, it's always been an uphill battle. Resale of books is not a copyright violation, which should ease Kevin's mind a bit. It falls under the 'first sale doctrine' which is a US term but is enshrined in the Berne Convention on copyright, too. Once you create a copyrighted item such as a book or CD and it is sold, that exhausts your right to control ownership of the item but does not relinquish your copyright in the item. You can sell a CD you don't listen to but you can't make a copy for your own use and then sell the CD as it effectively creates a second item that has not been created with the permission of the copyright holder.
That makes four and a half sensible comments!
Prime practitioner of headology, with a side order of melting glass with a stern glare.