Buying, rebinding, and reselling books

Question

If I were to buy a load of old books and rebind them artistically in leather, would I be free to resell them?

Answer 1

In the U.K., issuing a copy of the work to the public is an exclusive right of the copyright owner (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s. 16(b); s. 18) and so is renting out the work (s. 16(ba); s. 18A). In the U.S., distributing copies of the work by sale is an exclusive right of the copyright owner (17 USC § 106(3)).¹

So it is natural for you to ask what you've asked.

However, the first-sale doctrine provides that the exclusive right to sell a particular material instance is exhausted upon the first authorized sale of that instance. From that point forward, anyone may sell that instance. They may even alter its physical form, absent making a copy or derivative of the work. In the U.K., this first-sale concept is codified in the description of what it means to infringe the right to issue a copy to the public (see s. 18, referring to "copies not previously put into circulation").

For one example, from another jurisdiction, of what kind of alterations are not copies, the Supreme Court of Canada has held that physically separating the first layer of a poster and applying it to canvas (resulting in a different texture) was not a reproduction. See Théberge v. Galerie d'Art du Petit Champlain inc., 2002 SCC 34, especially paras. 66-73, where the Court draws comparative support from U.S. law.

There are, however, several ancillary issues that might arise, some of which are covered in Weather Vane's answer, but this answer sticks to copyright. One ancillary issue is "moral rights," a concept from civil law that has found its way into Canadian and U.K. copyright legislation, despite being somewhat distinct. In the U.K., an author has the right to object to "derogatory treatment" of their work (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s. 80). It is conceivable that a particular re-binding could be considered derogatory treatment, depending on the nature of the original and replacement bindings.

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^{1. Copyright is a bundle of exclusive rights that vary depending on the jurisdiction. In the U.K., there is a list at Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s. 16. In Canada, see Copyright Act, s. 3. In the U.S., see 17 USC § 106.}

Answer 2

Recovering a book may misrepresent its content, and show the publisher unfavourably. So some books contain a condition of sale similar to:

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

When a book contains that condition, you may not recover it without consent.

If the new cover is a good match to the original, the publisher might have a hard job to justify a complaint; a plain leather binding replaced with a similar plain leather binding, could be called a 'repair'. If the original leather was tooled, gilt, etc., that may contravene the conditions of sale.

If the book is a paperback, then repairing and preserving it with clear self-adhesive fabric may be acceptable.