Welcome to Literary Ashland

Follow

I very much enjoyed Monday the 11th readings, particularly the article “How did public libraries get started.” I was captured by the last section “The public library today.” One of the lines in this section read “libraries are constantly faced with the problem of trying to do a lot with limited funding,” and this line struck my interest since ebooks are rising in popularity. Many libraries, including the Jackson County libraries, are beginning to lend ebooks to patrons and I am just wondering how the entire process works, from the publisher to acquisitions to the patron downloading the ebook on their reader, and then what potential problems might arise with libraries using ebooks.

The presentation with Craig and Rick from Blackstone Audio further enhanced my interest. Personally, I think audio books are fantastic. As of yet I have not purchased one, but the HD Read demo that Craig and Rick showed us made me think I will probably be purchasing one soon. And even if I don’t I imagine my future career as a librarian will be focused on working with ebooks and software like HD Read. As a result of my interest, I am thinking of looking into ebooks and libraries for my research paper, but since it is a fairly new topic I am concerned I will not be able to find enough reliable sources. The few that I have found seem promising however.

Follow

I found the story in the New York Times article “‘McSleep’ Loses to Big Mc” to be both comical and fascinating. It’s comical in that “McSleep Inns” sounds silly, mostly because the name does indeed call to mind McDonald’s and its many connotations. Also, if the CEO of the hotel chain would not want the “lodging product to be confused with some hamburger chain”—and if he believes that the prefix “Mc” could ever cause that confusion—then why did the company file suit against McDonald’s for the right to use the name?

More importantly, however—here is the part I find fascinating—this lawsuit raises important questions about copyright infringement. If a combination of a mere two letters can belong exclusively to one company or corporation, where is the line drawn? Does Apple own the rights to the letter “i”? Or does copyright infringement exist only when “i” is used before another word by someone other than Apple?

It sounds like the issue of copyright infringement, when it comes to a well-recognized portion of a product or company name, can only be decided subjectively. It seems obvious that Apple should not own the letter “i,” but neither should McDonald’s own “mc,” by that logic. I haven’t done extra research on the topic, but based on the article, the judge apparently has the final decision on whether a letter or combination of letters is associated to a product or company strongly enough to constitute copyright infringement. This is where law gets troublesome, where there’s no finite right and wrong.