The Copyright Act

I have not read or started reading any book since completing Magic Breaks on 6 Aug 2014. And I do not think I will start anytime soon; not for at least another month or so, until I have finished what I need to do.

It has been a busy 12 days. Scratch that. Busy does not even begin to describe what I have been going through. In between writing and posting reviews, I found myself going back and forth, not once, not twice and certainly not thrice, but so many times that I have lost count.

In so far, I have posted 59 book reviews retrospectively using the last in first out method, that is, last read first reviewed. If only it has been just a simple migration of copy and paste of the earlier reviews from my Facebook posts, I would not be staring at the drafts of 12 more reviews to go. I actually spend time digging into my memory bank to retrieve my thoughts to better each of my review posts.

And then, what good is a book review without a fitting corresponding book cover gracing the post? With that in mind, I work really hard at finding sharp, clear picture of book cover to adorn each of my review. Only having been through the process did I learn to appreciate what other reviewers who bother the same have gone through.

A book can have different publishers, or rather many different publishers. In today's world, it is not surprising to see the same book published in various formats and editions: hardcover, paperback, audiobook and ebook. Then there is the USA edition, UK edition or large print edition to name a few.

Through sheer diligence by trial and error, I managed to sieve through the many different publishers and get hold of 59 book covers to the best of my satisfaction. But that's not the end of the story. And this is where the coming back and forth originates from. Because suddenly it occurs to me that I may have infringed on copyright issues. I start reading up on what "fair use" means. But there are so many "fair use" articles out there that my head spins upon seeing them. However, one particular post - The 'Fair Use' Rule: When Use of Copyrighted Material is Acceptable - does stand out among the rest and I find it useful and relatively easy to understand.

On further searches, I come across another website - The Australian Copyright Council @ www.copyright.org.au - that provides very useful information on Fair Dealing: What Can I Use Without Permission. The key points regarding The Copyright Act and relevant exceptions are provided in a concise manner in a PDF file which is readily available for download. According to the website, the information sheets are updated regularly, so one can be sure to access the most up-to-date version.

From what I gather under the section "Fair dealing for criticism or review", I understand that "The Copyright Act allows for use of copyrighted works for criticisms/reviews without permission as long as you include your source and the author's name. It would not be okay to use the cover image/photo/illustration outside of the context of the complete cover".

In short, it means that so long as I include the publisher, name of the book and its author, I can use the book cover for my book review; and no permission is required.

It feels good to finally have the doubts cleared. But that also brings me back to square one because I never note down the publisher when I first get hold of the book covers; and now after 59 book covers, I can hardly remember anything at all. So, I have to repeat the whole tedious process all over again, but this time placing the publisher in my post as well. What a workload of chore. I love reading and sharing my views but certainly not the legal aspect of it.