Should eBooks Restrict Your Ability To Copy & Paste?

Should publishers restrict your ability to copy and paste highlighted sections in your favorite eBook?  After underlining 25 passages in a brilliant Kindle book this weekend, this GalleyCat editor received a “Clipping Limit Exceeded” message and could not view (nor share) online the highlights he made inside a $13 eBook.

Here’s the  message: “For some books the publisher allows only a limited percentage of a book to be ‘clipped’ and stored separately from the main body of the book, as normally happens when you add a highlight. If you exceed this limit then you will see fewer highlights on this website than you actually marked on your Kindle. Popular Highlights are not counted towards this clipping limit.”

Some MobileRead Kindle users are actively fighting the policy–what do you think? Earlier this year, we showed you five easy steps to copy, paste, and print your highlights and notes from inside Kindle eBooks.

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