Resale Rights, Copyright, and Other Legal Stuff

I have a free ebook for you today that I think anyone doing business on the internet should have on their “must read” list. It isn’t all-inclusive, but it has important information about some of your legal rights and obligations in dealing with resale rights.

This is an interview with an attorney who specializes in internet law, and it covers some of the basic issues you need to know about. You can download the book here. You’ll want to put it someplace you can find it again, because you’ll want to re-read it as you get further involved in resale rights and reselling ebooks.

I was astounded yesterday while browsing through another giveaway site when I came across a book that was using a picture of Johnny Depp from one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. I don’t remember the name of the ebook, other than it had something to do with being a pirate on the internet, and when I clicked on the link, it didn’t work.  I’m thinking that the seller got some sort of communication from the Disney company (and you really don’t want to mess with those people) that she couldn’t use the image.

There seems to be a misconception out there that if something’s on the web, it’s free to use. WRONG! If you don’t have specific authorization to use something, you can be sued. And you’ll lose. And if you don’t have your business set up correctly, you can lose everything - your house, your savings, your car. Granted, for things to get that far, you’d have to have done something really egregious, but at the very least you’ll be out the money it costs to hire an attorney to fight the lawsuit.

So, read this report and let it be a starting point for your education about the law and the internet. You don’t have to get a degree in this stuff, but you do need to know the basics and know enough to know when to ask questions.