Anti-copyright stance of *Q*'s authors

The German publishing house Piper Verlag has bought *Q*'s rights of translation for 120,000 DMs, which is the highest offer Einaudi has ever got from Germany. Such an investment makes you think, there will probably be a big and stylish launch on the German book market. As to the Spanish translation, Grijalbo publishing house is already at work on the text. This is the open letter we authors sent them a few weeks ago (back then, we hadn't yet got an agent - now we've got him, and *he* is the guy dealing with the - alas, partial - waiving of copyright)

Dear Mr. Claudio Lopez

We are glad to hear that Einaudi and Grijalbo came to terms about *Q*'s Spanish edition. We are writing to remind all the parties involved of a very important detail. Since the beginnings of the Luther Blissett Project - for obvious reasons related to the nature and media strategy of this multiple name - all books authored by "Luther Blissett" (both in Italy and, e.g. Germany [the reference is to the *Handbuch der Kommunikationsguerilla*, t.n.]) were published with formulas waiving copyright, either totally or partially. All "Luther Blissett" output is an ever-changing result of a collective process of network creation and re-elaboration. If Grijalbo intends to strictly observe the international laws on copyright, this would be perceived by every multi-use name bearer as an unnatural strain. As the old "Net.gener@tion" affair proved [see <http://ww.syntac.net/lutherblissett/mondadr.html/>], Luther Blissett's transnational network is perfectly capable to reject and boycott a work by the Multiple that is not freely reproducible, at least by single persons or for non-commercial purposes. *Q*'s Italian edition carries the following wording: "Partial or total reproduction of this book, as well as its electronic diffusion, are consented to the readers for non-commercial use". We augur that all the involved parties agree about the insertion, in the Spanish edition, of a similar wording in Castillan. Thanks in advance, and greetings from

Luther Blissett
(th authors of *Q*)

Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999
From: Claudio Lopez
To: luther@syntac.net
Subject: Re: Traduzione di Q in castigliano

Nessun problema. Es un placer poder editar Q en lengua española. Gracias por todo y hasta pronto.
Un saludo muy cordial,
C.