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Re: MPAA Harrasses blind person over alleged sharing of AUDIOBOOK!

Posted by Technomage Hawke on 09/19/05 04:25

Jason wrote:

> This isn't much of a surprise, actually. Groups such as Bookshare and the
> National Library Service for the Blind must seek permission from the
> publisher to make audio books available to blind. And in the case of a
> private corperation, such as Simon and Schuster, making audio books, they
> have to seek the same blessing from the publisher. And in the case of a
> movie Paramount may have made, this isn't any different, since any
> publisher making a book out of a movie must get permission from the movie
> maker before they they can publish the book.

this is all understood. However, Michael Crichton wrote the book long before
the movie was made (I know, I have the original NLS version sitting here in
a green box on my desk next to the 4 track audio cassette player)..

it seems to me that Paramount had to acquire permission from the Author (and
the publisher) before they could produce the film (and thereby, pay a
royalty for the use of the title and the materials in the published works).


>
> Its unfortunate because most commercially available audio books are
> abridged, therefore aren't really worth the money you'd pay for them, and
> copying NLS-produced audio books that aren't abridged isn't particularly
> easy, since special tape machines are required. In other words, blind
> people are pretty much screwed when it comes to putting books on their
> shelf compared to sighted people. Alternately, braile isn't a real
> solution to this inequity since it's such a bulky medium, highly
> expensive, not readily available, and far too easily destroyed compared to
> standard print books. Catch 22!

I know. finding "unabridged" materials that can be easily stored on a medium
of my choice (in this case, cdrom) isn't easy. in some cases, said
materials just aren't available.

in one such case, I wanted an audiobook from alan dean foster (one of the
flinx series stories) and the publisher told me to go pound sand. I
actually had to contact the author (mr foster) to get them to reverse their
policy (he was at a sci-fi convention here in pheonix a while back). I
showed him the letter that his publisher sent me. needless to say, he was
not pleased. it was after this that I received a handwritten notice from
said publisher apologizing for theor lack of action and a promise that they
wouldn't leave the blind population "out in the cold" on future releases.
Still, that did not help me as I still cannot find some of Mr. Foster's
works in audiobook format (its been 8 years folks, how long does it take to
produce a tape????).

for me, braille is just not an option. I don't have the storage space for
it. :(

oh well.

I wonder, if I get sued by paramount pictures, can I counter sue based on
malicious prosecution and filing a frivolous lawsuit?

TMH

--
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or
numbered!
My life is my own - No. 6

 

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