Free for a Fee

The case involves a number of online self-publishing services. For those authors who have struggled to find a publisher or who would otherwise prefer to keep control of their IP rights in their books, there are many such businesses.  Such services allow authors to upload works and pay to transform those manuscripts into paperbacks via a print on demand model or make them available in ebook form for sale on the sites of major e-booksellers. Unlike a traditional publisher, however, self-publishing services do not fact check or edit materials (though, users may take advantage of unaffiliated paid services that do just that) and do not use a vetting process that might catch potentially defamatory or infringing content prior to publishing.  Indeed, beyond automated reviews for things like pornography or plagiarism, these platforms do not review submissions for content and rely on user agreements that contain certain contractual representations about the propriety of the uploaded content.

But what happens when a self-published book offered for sale contains content that may violate a third-party’s right of publicity or privacy rights? Should the self-publishing platforms be treated like traditional “publishers” or more like distributors or booksellers?  This past month, an Ohio district court ruled that several online self-publishing services were not liable for right of publicity or privacy claims for distributing an erotic (and so-called “less than tasteful”) book whose cover contained an unauthorized copy of the plaintiffs’ engagement photo because such services are not publishers. (See Roe v. Amazon.com, 2016 WL 1028265 (S.D. Ohio Mar. 15, 2016)).

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The content in this post was found at http://newmedialaw.proskauer.com/2016/04/01/self-publishing-platforms-deemed-distributors-not-publishers-in-privacy-suit-over-unauthorized-book-cover/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.