Intellectual Property & eBook Security: A Comprehensive Guide

Digital publishing has benefited authors and publishers in several ways. The entire process, from content creation to publishing and distribution, is efficiently managed by the online publishing platforms. Digitization has simplified the work of publishers and enhanced the quality of eBooks and other online content.

With the aid of sophisticated features and AI algorithms, any static content can be transformed into an interactive and engaging eBook. Moreover, it has automated and streamlined the publishing and distribution process, making the eBooks readily accessible.

However, convenience and risks go hand-in-hand. With the availability of easily accessible online content, the threats of content and intellectual property theft have been a recurring issue in the online world. Though the internet enables everyone to access eBooks, it doesn’t permit illegal copying or distribution of others’ work. That would lead to violation of copyright laws followed by huge financial losses and impeding innovation in the creative world.

Table of Contents

I. 8 Tips to Protect eBooks from Piracy

1. Stringent Legal Frameworks
2. Spreading Awareness and Education
3. Implementing DRM Protection
4. Providing Affordable Authorized Alternatives
5. Adding Digital Watermarks
6. Configuring Google Alerts
7. Publish eBooks in Secure File Formats
8. Keep your Online Content Password Protected

II. Conclusion

The growing concerns around eBook piracy and intellectual property theft keep tormenting the creators and publishers now and then. Thus, proper measures should be taken to protect your eBooks files from unauthorized copying and distribution and illegal sharing of digital files like music, videos, and images. 

Enforcing strong legal systems is paramount to protect eBook from piracy and other intellectual resources from thefts and copyright infringements. Governments should take adequate measures to strengthen and revise copyright laws that would protect different digital content like online books, videos, images, and music.

Imposing stringent laws and penalties against the offenders can be helpful for the creative industries in protecting their digital books and other online content.

Audiences are the backbone of creators. If they accept illegal online content in an act to save a few bucks, it will directly hit the credibility of the authors/ creators or publishers. They should avoid using illegal content like pirated copies of eBooks, and other digital content like video, audio, and music content from unauthorized sources.

Therefore, educating the online audience on the effects of eBook and intellectual property theft is crucial. Educational institutions and people from the creative industries should collaborate with the governments to conduct awareness campaigns. They should educate and encourage the audience to read and use original content. This will help the rightful owners reap the benefits of their hard work and creativity.

DRM (Digital Rights Management) software is a technology-enhanced security tool that can be used for protecting eBooks and other digital content. It safeguards the online content from unauthorized usage like copying or sharing. Content creators, publishers, and other creative businesses leverage this security tool to restrict illegal access to their online books, videos, audio, and other content. 

A DRM application supports data encryption that helps to protect their valuable content and sensitive resources. Thus, it ensures file security and authorized sharing of content by adhering to the terms and policies set by the owner. By restricting access rights, content owners can minimize potential misuse and content exploitation. When it comes to DRM, KITABOO can very well become your go-to solution.

Most of the premium eBooks or online digital content are chargeable. Either the audience needs to pay a subscription charge for reading/ viewing the content or directly buy them. However, not all are willing to pay this amount and look for easy alternatives where they are not charged or the amount is a bare minimum. Thus, they end up buying or downloading unauthorized copies of the original book or content. 

To combat such issues publishers and distributors should give authorization to audiences so that they can access meaningful online content easily. Thus, lowering the subscription charges, and eBook prices and publishing more valuable content on user-friendly platforms, can encourage more people to choose original digital content and avoid the copied versions.

With the expansion of the digital publishing landscape, more authors and publishers are leveraging digital watermarks to protect their content. Digital watermarks are similar to an invisible signature or a mute protector embedded within digital books. It verifies the credibility of the digital content and the identity of its owner. 

Watermarks offer copyright protection and help to track the source of a digital book or content. It also allows the audience to read or use the watermarked content anytime and anywhere without violating the legal parameters. Thus, using a watermark would make it easy to track the source of an eBook or digital content and limit the unauthorized circulation of content.

The digital world operates on advanced technology, so why not leverage it to restrict the unauthorized sharing of online content? By configuring Google alerts, authors and publishers can keep a strict vigilance on their online content and intellectual properties. 

Once an alert is created, Google will automatically send a notification in the form of an email to the content owner. Such email notifications will be sent every time Google finds a match for the specified keywords. Authors and publishers can create several alerts by selecting different sections of an eBook like the title, paragraphs, and more.

Audiences prefer using diverse platforms for reading eBooks. So, publishers should choose secure eBook files to publish the books. By choosing different file formats, they can ensure compatibility of the digital content on different platforms.

Many readers prefer reading their eBooks on Kindle, hence, by AZW file format, Kindle users can conveniently read their favorite novels and stories on their preferred platform. Similarly, PDF is another file format that is compatible with almost any platform. Also, by allowing data encryption and customizing user access levels, PDF formats prove to be one of the safest file formats. ePub is another popular digital file format for eBooks that’s accepted across publishing industries.

This will encourage audiences to choose the original eBook rather than going for the copied one.

Locking your eBooks or other intellectual property with passwords adds an extra layer of protection to your online content. Once the audience subscribes or buys the content, you can send the password through their email IDs. Also, it is advisable to use a strong password such as an alphanumeric code. 

By doing this you can restrict unauthorized access to the content. Though the buyers or subscribers might share the digital content with their families and friends, it minimizes authorized distribution of the online content on a mass scale.

The digital world has kept authors, publishers, and other creators on their toes. They try to fulfill the demands of their audience by creating interactive and engaging content in the form of eBooks, videos, audio, and more. However, they should take adequate steps to protect their digital content from online predators. 

By applying the right measures like using DRM protection, data encryption, conducting awareness campaigns, and more, content owners can protect eBooks from piracy and intellectual property from online theft.

If you’re a publisher, author, or content creator and are looking for a secure platform to create, publish, and distribute your eBooks, KITABOO is the right place.

For more details, connect with us now, or write to us at KITABOO@hurix.com.