Instead of traditional paper books, in the age of the information explosion, the use of electronic books (eBooks) makes it more convenient for people to read, carry, and store books. However, e-books also face an extremely high risk of copyright infringement. In many cases, paper books have been copied, made into e-books, and illegally distributed online, causing damage to authors and publishers. It can be affirmed that the act of using another person’s book to make an electronic book (eBook) and sharing it on the internet is an act of copyright infringement.
1. What is an e-book?
Electronic books are books published in digital form, existing in the form of an electronic file (digital file), used through personal electronic devices such as computers, smartphones, Tablet computers, and e-readers. E-books are released on the internet environment, readers will buy books at online stores and can download books and read them right on their devices, even when connected to the network and when they are offline with no network connection.
E-books are often formatted in formats such as EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW, TXT… which are formats that prevent others from editing the book content. Although the content cannot be edited, e-books are designed so that readers can choose the reading format (horizontal-vertical format, font style, font size, etc.) and are compatible with all screens of different sizes.
Currently, e-books are popular for reasons such as saving storage space, saving costs because the price is often cheaper than paper books, can be purchased quickly without going directly to the store, and are easy to carry when traveling.
2. The act of using another person’s book to make an electronic book (eBook) and sharing it on the internet is an act of copyright infringement
Publishers, in addition to having to deal with pirated books, also have to deal with eBooks being “pirated” and widely distributed online. There have been many individuals who have used original books published by others to make eBooks and share them on the internet, including sharing them for free or reselling them at low prices, violating the legitimate rights and interests of the owners. own copyright to those books.
According to Article 20 of the Intellectual Property Law, the right to copy works, and the right to distribute and communicate works to the public are some of the rights that are included in the property rights of the copyright owner. The copyright owner can exclusively exercise or allow other organizations and individuals to exercise the above rights. At the same time, organizations and individuals exploit and use one, some, or all of the rights. The above-mentioned must be authorized by the copyright owner and pay royalties and other material benefits (if any) to the copyright owner.
In addition, according to Article 28 of the Intellectual Property Law, acts of infringement of the author’s property rights, including the rights to copy, distribute, communicate works, etc. are determined to be acts of infringement of copyright. Using another person’s published original book to make an ebook and share it on the internet violates the right to copy, distribute, and communicate the work belonging to the copyright owner.
The above acts may be subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of Decree 131/2013/ND-CP as follows:
- Acts of infringing on the right to distribute works (Article 15): Fine from 10,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND and apply remedial measures to force the removal of copies of infringing works in electronic form, in the network and digital environment or force the destruction of infringing evidence.
- Acts of infringing on the right to communicate works to the public (Article 17): Fine from 15,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND and apply remedial measures to force the removal of copies of infringing works.
- Acts of infringing the right to copy works (Article 18): Fine from 15,000,000 VND to 35,000,000 VND and apply remedial measures to force the removal of copies of infringing works in electronic form, in the network and digital environment or force the destruction of infringing evidence.
For the above reasons, if individuals or organizations want to use a book to make an e-book, they must ask permission and pay royalties to the author or copyright owner of that book. If they do not do so, that person may be subject to administrative penalties according to the fine level mentioned above.
Above is the article “Is it illegal to take someone else’s book to make an e-book and share it online?”. We hope this article is useful to you.
