An unusual solution to IP issues

[alexxkay]

Recently re-read Roger Zelazny's "This Moment of the Storm". It's set on a frontier planet, in a universe that has moderately common interplanetary travel. This travel, however, is STL, so round trips at least dozens, often hundreds of years. One incidental paragraph jumped out at me:

All the little libraries Out Here are full of rare books--first editions of best sellers which people pick up before they leave Someplace Else, and which they often donate after they've finished. We assume that these books have entered the public domain by the time they reach here, and we reproduce them and circulate our own editions. No author has ever sued, and no reproducer has ever been around to be sued by representatives, designates, or assigns.

Comments

If the publishers had their way

[metageek.livejournal.com]

So, clearly, the solution is for the publishers Someplace Else to get their government to ban the unlicensed export of books.

[corwyn-ap.livejournal.com]

Why have I never heard of this book? I am a huge Zelazny fan. Heck, I looked through that section your library when I was there last.

Thanks so much for the pointer. A new book by one of my favorite authors, who I thought was beyond having such.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

You'll note that I used quotation marks, not underlining (or underscores). That was deliberate; this is a short story. It was anthologized at least twice, since I've read it before, and probably more than that.

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

When you go looking for it, bear in mind it's a short story not a book by itself. Collected in Doors of His Face, Lamps of His Mouth, among other places.