Of the Injustice of Counterfeiting Books: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Of the Injustice of Counterfeiting Books, credited to Immanuel Kant, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

Librivox recording of Of the Injustice of Counterfeiting Books by Immanuel Kant, translated by John Richardson. Read by D.E. Wittkower. This essay of Kant’s on copyright argues that the unlicensed copying of books cannot possibly be permissible, due to the fact that it assumes a consent on the part of the author which it is logically impossible for the author to give. The argument is dependent upon an assumption that the writings be commodified, for the reason why the author is unable to possibly give consent to multiple publishers is due to the author’s will – to communicate with the public – necessitating the profitability of the publisher, for, it is assumed, there is no way to communicate with the public at large without a great expense which can only be borne by a publishing firm. This is, of course, no longer a necessary assumption. Other arguments here are also of interest: this is a foundational document in claims regarding the moral rights of authors, and Kant’s account of the connection between the communicative intent of the author and the rights resultant is of continuing importance (even though it is not often taken into account in contemporary debates, and has only a tenuous relation to contemporary copyright law); the distinction between works and acts in the “Universal Observation” (the third section of the essay) strikes us as odd today, but is worthy of consideration; his admission of the permissibility of derivative works is striking; and, strangely, the first footnote uses as a reductio ad absurdum an idea of liability which underlies what United States law today calls by the name of “contributory infringement.” Summary by D.E. Wittkower)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Of the Injustice of Counterfeiting Books
• Author credits: Immanuel Kant
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 1
• Listed recording duration: 27:05

Catalogue topics

• philosophy
• copyright

Track guide

1. Of the Injustice of Counterfeiting Books — 27:05

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.