[h2o-discuss] Fatbrain

["James H. Johnston" <jimjohn@erols.com>]

    Fatbrain, http://www1.fatbrain.com/ematter/home.asp, has become an
Internet publisher.  You upload your work, pay $1 monthly fee, set the
price for the public to buy it online, and split the revenue with
Fatbrain.  Fatbrain and Adobe are collaborating on various copy
protection schemes as well.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/email/explode-infobeat/technology/story/21533.html

    This is an intriguing development.  It means that anyone can easily
make his or her original material available.  Granted, it is not the
same as hard copy publishing at the moment and big name authors probably
won't use it, but there may be advantages to other writers.  It also
means that a work never goes out of print, so that a copyright will
always have some value.
    What is more, people can put uncopyrighted works -- or even
uncopyrightable ones -- on Fatbrain and try to make money from them.
Suppose that I have the only copy of a rare old book for which the
copyright has expired.  I can put it on Fatbrain and sell copies.
    Discussion?

Jim Johnston
jimjohn@erols.com