Copyright & Piracy
In most countries of the world, authors enjoy protection of their intellectual property that appears in books, journal articles and parts thereof, such as illustrations, plans, tables and animations. Protected works include literary and scientific works, such as writings, speeches and computer programs. Only personal intellectual creations are protected.
Notice of Copyright is printed in general on the verso of the title page of a book or on the header or footer of a journal article. Notice of Copyright provides information regarding the date of first publication of the work and the holder of copyright. Proper notice of copyright helps to protect the integrity of the work and to fight copyright infringement.
Contents of copyright
Moral Rights cover an author’s authority to decide whether his work should be published and whether the published work should bear the author’s name.
Exploitation Rights entitle an author to decide whether copies of the work should be reproduced (Right of Reproduction) and whether these copies should be offered to the public (Right of Distribution). Right of Reproduction is the right to make copies of the work, irrespective of method or number. Right of Distribution is the right to offer to the public the aforementioned produced copies.
Copyright licenses
Author are free to publish their work by themselves or transfer the exploitation rights to a publisher; e.g. Richtmann. In order to be entitled to make use of these rights, the publisher asks the author to sign a publishing agreement granting the publisher the sole right to reproduce, publish, distribute and make available to the public the work in print and electronic format. Authors and the publisher should always define their relationship in a publishing agreement. Richtmann offers a large variety of such contracts for all kind of works.
Prerequisite of the transfer of exclusive publishing rights is that the author has not already signed such rights to third parties (e.g. another publisher) and that the work has not heretofore been published in whole or in part.
Consequence of having granted exclusive rights to Richtmann indicates also that an author agrees not to release with another publisher any publication similar to the work published with Richtmann.
Duration of copyright
Copyright is legally valid for a fixed period of time. The length of the period varies depending on the copyright laws of each country. It is usually from 50 to 70 years after the death of the author.
Once this term has expired, however, legal rights to the work also expire. After that, the work becomes part of the public domain and can be used freely.
Anti-piracy
How to report suspected piracy or unauthorized copying or distribution of a Richtmann publication
Please send any details to the Richtmann anti-piracy team. We will only contact you if we have further questions. By submitting this information you agree that Richtmann can collect and use your personal data as detailed in the privacy policy. We may contact you to discuss the suspected case of piracy you’re reporting but will not share your personal data with third party partners.
Plagiarism
Taking the ideas and work of others without giving them credit is unfair and dishonest. Copying even one sentence from someone else’s manuscript, or even one of your own that has previously been published, without proper citation is considered plagiarism, and may violate copyright laws.
However, it may be possible to adapt some of your previously published work for your book. Check with the journal where you published the original article about its policies, and get written permission from the journal before re-using any material in your book manuscript.
