But in a digital environment, re-use, changes and the resale of material that incorporated the original work became issues that needed a simple solution, Ianella said. At the OzAuthors site, electronic books can be downloaded and paid for online. The trial system allows payment to be automatically split between different rights holders, such as authors, editors and illustrators. It allows owners of texts to decide how much can be downloaded for free as a preview and to vary how the work can be used. Once a book is purchased, buyers can read it on the screen or print it.
Some books are cheaper for on-screen use only.
There are about 60 books on the new service at present. Ianella said new rights systems would have to allow for the many different ways a piece of copyright material could be used and re-used. He said the competing standards for electronic books were not good for consumers who wanted to be able to read a book on any device once they owned it. All Rights Reserved.