Authors are entitled to some returns

["Siegfried Angerer" <sseaprod@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings
I think it is possible to make a case that the author of a work should be
paid a portion of any license / third party distribution fee, even if a
single chapter of a book is distributed by a party other than the publisher.
In my opinion a single chapter from many books can easily be compiled into a
new work and reprinted using current digital copying and printing
technology. This material can also be hidden behind firewalls and accessed
by subscription members only. In the case of students who often photocopy a
single chapter from a book, this fee could easily be calculated into current
course enrolment fees, without raising the overall cost of education to
students.
Digitised materials placed into digital archives by libraries can be further
distributed to other libraries and members provide significant improvements
in economies of scale.  These archives deliver cost reductions by avoiding
duplication of services across multiple member portals, unified access,
distribution, specializations and warehousing. This in turn reduces the
number of hardcopy sales with effects on the income of both the author and
publisher.
I think it is a case in point, that if musicians can argue that a percentage
of internet distribution fees should be paid to them; authors of fiction and
non-fiction works as well as academics delivering substantial online course
materials, that arguable enhance the intellectual asset base of their
employer, should also be paid their standard 7 to 10 % royalty for content
that is either exclusively in the digital domain, or has been digitised by
third parties under license.
I think it is up to the author and the publishers to determine what, how,
where and when material will be made available free of charge. Musicians,
Music Studios and Hollywood have the right to determine what is to be
distributed for promotional and other reasons free of charge. At present, we
have a system whereby an academic institution pays a certain fee to a
national copy right clearance centre that in my opinion does not adequately
protect the integrity of the original work, or pass on the true value of the
accumulated fees to the authors. There are many authors out their working in
sheds and garages who will take a lifetime to raise their incomes above the
poverty line. There are many academics working a forty + hour week teaching,
and then put in another full working week into writing and researching. If
they are lucky their text book might be bought by their students. More often
then not, the students photocopy the free complimentary library copy and
quote selected bits in their assignments.  Yes, yes, imitation is the
highest form of flattery, but boy can it get boring.
Siegfried E. Angerer
Bu. Ph 613 9645538
Ah. Ph 613 96961814