More than 2,000 writers, including Kazuo Ishiguro, published a joint letter protecting the copyright of British writers

Kazuo Ishiguro (born 1954) is a Nobel Laureate in Literature.

On August 1, local time, more than 2,500 British writers, including Kazuo Ishiguro, issued a joint letter in solidarity with the "Save Our Books" movement and supported the original "copyright exhaustion principle" in the United Kingdom, with the purpose of safeguarding the royalty income of British writers and book publishers.

The joint letter was published in the Sunday Times in response to a public consultation issued by the UK government on the future framework of UK ip law. After a formal Brexit, the UK has the right to reformulate the IP legal framework, including whether or not to follow the "exhaustion of rights principle", which could have far-reaching implications for the economic rights and interests of UK writers, publishers and the book industry as a whole.

The Exhaustion Doctrine, also known as the exhaustion and exhaustion of rights principle, is a unique principle in intellectual property law. This principle means that once the ip owner or licensee has legally placed the intellectual property product in circulation, some or all of the exclusive rights owned by the original ip right holder are exhausted. The principle of exhaustion of rights affects a country's "parallel imports" policy.

Under the UK's current "Principle of Copyright Exhaustion", UK writers and publishers have the right to set appropriate pricing for international markets while preventing editions of books distributed in other parts of the world (non-EEA) from being re-imported into the EEA and the UK without authorization. As the pricing of editions of UK books issued in the non-EEA is often lower than in the UK home market, royalties on the home market by UK authors and publishers will not be affected by the current "copyright exhaustion principle".

Many British writers and publishers believe that this copyright protection is essential for British writers who have their work sold abroad. Changes to the current copyright framework will inevitably erode the revenue that most Uk writers earn through domestic sales channels. The Save Our Books campaign notes on its website that given the current woes writers face at the time of the CORONAVIRUS epidemic, the UK government would have disastrous consequences if it introduced the wrong IP law framework, including: serious damage to writers' incomes; prompting publishers to move out of the UK; further support for online book retail giants, and a crackdown on brick-and-mortar bookstores that have already been hit hard.

Save Our Books" (Save Our Books) official website screenshot.

In addition to the adverse consequences described above, the joint letter published in the Sunday Times read: "Weakening the UK's copyright laws will have a devastating impact on Britain's vibrant, world-renowned book industry." If writing becomes a profession that only the rich can enter, important stories will no longer be told. ”

Stephen Lotinga, chief executive of the British Publishers Association, said in an interview: "The UK is a world leader in book publishing and currently exports more books than any other country in the world. The wrong approach means fewer books, fewer writers, fewer readers, and will jeopardize the entire book industry and undermine Britain's cultural enterprise. ”

In addition to Kazuo Ishiguro, the writers involved in the joint event included Booker Award winner Bernardine Evaristo and Hilary Mantel, "Substantia Trilogy" author Philip Pullman, "How to Train Your Dragon Series" author Christida Cowell, best-selling "One Day" author David Nicholls, comedy writer Adam Kay, Julia Donald and Axel Schaeffler, authors of the children's book "Gollum Cow", and Vere McDermid, writer of speculative fiction, etc.

Resources:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/87035-u-k-authors-rally-to-protect-copyright.html

https://www.saveourbooks.org.uk/

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/uks-future-exhaustion-of-intellectual-property-rights-regime

Author | Li Yongbo

Edit | Rodong

Proofreading | Lucy