Audiobook idea, is this copyright infringement?

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Gelb812
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Joined: July 13th, 2016, 8:45 am

Post by Gelb812 »

Hello,

I've got an idea for a audiobook, but I wonder if it would be an infringement of copyright.

What I'd like to do is to record the first 200 words (no more, it's like only the first page) of the 100 most popular novels in the world and publish that as a single audiobook, as a teaser of the "best books" there is. Most of them aren't in the public domain.

I would record it in English. Would this be considered "fair use"?
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

I have no idea.

And none of us are copyright lawyers, so any answers we give are only our personal opinions. ;)
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
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Elizabby
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Post by Elizabby »

I think the problem is going to be that it will be impossible to know. Each copyright holder would need to decide that your idea is "fair use" and it would only take one to object and you would have to withdraw the project. My understanding of "fair use" is that it is very subjective and would probably only be determined after the fact, in court.

In short, my (unofficial) opinion is that such a project would be too risky for LV to want to host it. You could record independently and upload it to the Internet Archive - then you personally are taking the risk.
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

n short, my (unofficial) opinion is that such a project would be too risky for LV to want to host it.
Oh, LV wouldn't host it, period, since we don't deal with "fair use." We only deal with clearly out-of-copyright. :)
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
plaidsicle
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Post by plaidsicle »

doing this kind of teaser with only the most popular public domain books might be fun anyway. I don't know exactly how you measure "most popular," though. it'd be just as interesting to me to have them all randomly chosen from Project Gutenberg. like a box of chocolates that you wouldn't know what you'd be getting...
'whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.' -Oscar Wilde
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annise
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Post by annise »

we do have a number of "First chapter" collections which are probably people's favourite books :D

Anne
carteki
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Joined: January 10th, 2015, 9:56 am

Post by carteki »

Take a look at "library of the worlds best literature" series on Librivox (ie already in the public domain) and possibly get your selection of books from there.

Kim
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