Booklocker.com took $217.00 from me and failed to publish my book. Bangor Maine
I paid the Booklocker.Com $217.00 to publish my Fathers book HIGH & AWAY "12 miles high & 20 Miles away' The story of the cameras in the U-2 Spyplane. The book was never published and my money was not refunded because of a copyright dispute over the cover I submitted.
The cover was a photo of a U-2 in flight given to my father by Kelly Johnson of the Lockheed skunks works. Angela Hoy of the Booklocker insisted that I track down the person who photographed the U-2 and get permission to use the photo. I explained to her that it is a government photo and that anything the government creates cannot be copyrighted. She still insisted that I track down the photographer. Does she really think that a freelance photographer in a Cessna 150 snapped a photo of the U-2 at 30,000 feet? I decided I had the wrong publisher, asked for my money back, and was refused.
Ron
Twentynine Palms, California
U.S.A.
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1 Updates & Rebuttals
Angela
Bangor,Maine,
U.S.A.
Author could not prove who owned the photo
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, January 19, 2010
This author could not provide proof of ownership of the photo. While government photos may be in the public domain, government contractors' photos may not. The author could not prove who took the photo, nor could he obtain permission from the appropriate government contractor. Infringing on someone's copyright can put the author and the publisher at risk. And, it's just plain wrong.
At Booklocker.com, we steadfastly support the copyrights of others, both author and photographer alike. We had already done work on this author's book and we offered to continue to work on it if he could either provide permission to publish the photo, or if he decided to use a different photo altogether. He refused.