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Old 05-07-2007, 04:12 PM
REE1993 REE1993 is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 426
I think of it this way:

If I wrote a book about the Red Sox, should the owners get a portion of it? Or, if you want to compare it to a not-for-profit group, a book about the history of the American Red Cross.

Writing a book often take lots of time, money (most authors, especially new ones, do not get advances on their contracts), and legwork. It takes months, even years to do all of the research, interviewing, drafting and editing before a book goes to print. There are legal fees, copyright and trademark fees, supplies (gasoline, tape recorders, computer software, etc.).

Sometimes, individuals or organizations contribute and a deal is made for compensation (one time or royalties), but as a rule, there is no ethical requirement for profits a non-fiction book to go to the person or organization of subject matter.

Basically, history is something that is not proprietary information. Think of textbooks... you cannot trademark the fact that an organization began in whatever year, who was involved, etc. The only loophole is if an author breaks a confidentiality agreement or violated privacy laws to obtain information.
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