Ride the waves
Simon Whaley sets sail to tackle the pirates on the choppy seas of copyright infringement
I don’t want to worry you, but have you seen this website?’ Those were the words from a concerned fellow author who’d found all her books were being offered for free, as pdf downloads, via an unscrupulous website. I searched for my name and found nine of my books listed. My immediate reaction was ‘Shiver Me Timbers’, or words to that affect. Then I wondered what I should do about it.
In this business of writing, copyright allows us to licence others to reproduce our work in a variety of agreed formats, hopefully for some financial reward. My first book, One Hundred Ways For A Dog To Train Its Human, published by Hodder & Stoughton, is available in print and ebook format, because that’s what the contract agreed. The only other businesses who can publish my words in these formats are the four foreign publishers who’ve negotiated the right to do so.
Therefore this website, offering free pdf downloads, was not only infringing my copyright but also Hodder & Stoughton’s rights as the authorised publisher of the electronic text.
Don’t download!
A word of warning. No matter how tempting it might be, never click on any website links offering free downloads of your work to see what you get. They could simply be a ploy to download harmful viruses, malware or ransomeware onto your computer, either to infect the machine, capture passwords, or encrypt the your data and hold it to ransom. These sites may not be distributing your work, but simply using the offer of a free copy of your book as a means of entrapment. Some pirates are more interested in other peoples’ treasure chest than giving away your literary efforts.