• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Trek e-books now DRM free.

It is a shame that US based publishers don't give a damn outside the US especially when it's the same publisher. Star Trek books in the UK are published by S&S.

A couple of the authors live here...but that shortsightedness also affects the tv series. Ds9 was prime time viewing here, as was voyager. Enterprise was the first Trek in over a decade to be less than that...There was no decline for trek here, just a sudden drop and abrupt end.
 
Not sure how things are in the rest of the EU but in the UK we're still missing 55 of the numbered TOS & TNG novels as e-books. Not available on Amazon or from S&S or anywhere...
 
It is easy enough to get them. But you have to be prepared to get them in ePub and convert if you have a Kindle.
 

This post in the stickied thread has the reporting link, for future reference.

Others (including myself) have already reported it to Simon & Shuster, but it seems like no action has been taken to remove it from Amazon. That it's a Kindle best seller now is pretty appalling.

A best-seller? :lol: I wonder if it's actually any good, or if it's just the low price point bringing people in...
 

That's been up about a month here. It even has reviews.
I don't know why the Trek editors don't just check with a quick amazon search once in a while, since it's unlikely us customers can properly report something to amazon (and quite frankly it's a long process with no thanks) as we aren't the license/copyright holders.
 
This is the response I got to my report...

Hello,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention; our customer-service team flagged this for me, as it requires special consideration. We are unable to send takedowns on this sort of content on Amazon or other retail/filesharing sites. Digimarc/Attributor provides notice-and-takedown services for full, infringing copies of the Works published by our customers. We do not have the authority to enforce matters that may violate trademark or licensing agreements. Should you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact me either by replying to this email or at the contact information below.

Thank you kindly,
Devon
 
This is the response I got to my report...
Seem to be suggesting it is necssary to contact CBS for this sort of thing. Although that company is working on behalf of S&S so maybe there is someone in S&S that could be contacted directly about unlicenced works?
 
This is the response I got to my report...

Err, what? So that reporting site is only good for places that put up pirated copies of existing, published novels? So if I were to start selling digital copies of Shadow Lord, they can enforce that, but if I write Shadow Lord II: The Reshadowing and sell it, no problem?

FWIW, I checked Amazon's IP infringement reporting page, and apparently I have to be the rights holder to submit a complaint there.

I guess Borg Rising gets to continue to be a bestseller? :shrug:
 
That might be because copyright enforcement is entirely up to the rights holder and isn't mandatory to hold copyright the way trademark is? Like, rights holders are free to turn a blind eye to copyright violation, and it's only relevant when they decide to sue. That's just a guess about why, though.
 
That response seems weird. The site says it's for infringement and piracy, and I believe this would be considered infringement. I thought infringement would be something like this, with a new story set in a IP the author isn't authorized to write in, and piracy would be selling a book without permission. Is there a different definition of infringement I'm not aware of?
 
Well a few months ago there were those "Frank Smith" unauthorized Trek Ebooks that were getting some sales traction on Amazon, but they were finally taken down after a pro Trek writer said he reported them. Perhaps again that's what it might take; can think of a couple real writers who might feel that their ideas are being infringed on by this current Trek "novel".
 
Maybe they can fix the current star trek ebooks sale they emailed me about so it at least thinks about applying to us in the UK.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top