Re: materials used in court

On Wed, 29 Mar 2000, Nancy Griffin <grifnanc[_at_]isu.edu> wrote:
>
> During a discussion with a pathologist recently, he told me about a
> practice of copying charts, graphs, photographs, etc. from various
> books and journals to use in court cases. These materials are used,
> without attribution, to support expert testimony. Copies are
> distributed to all legal counsel and judges associated with the
> case in question.
>
> I hope I have expressed this clearly. It is apparently a standard
> practice. Is it a violation of copyright?

Nancy, you're correct that this copying is a standard practice, but YES, is most certainly copyright infringement if the pathologist did not obtain proper permissions from the creators of the works he used.

It's important to distinguish that whether or not there is attribution is irrelevant to the issue of the infringement. Failure to attribute by itself isn't infringement, it's plagarism -- but even if this pathologist had attributed the work to the creators, he is still infringing if he didn't obtain proper permissions.

You've said the copying described was used to support expert testimony. That copying purpose does not qualify as "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research", and those are the extent of instances that the law permits copying without requiring permission.

I am not suggesting that the pathologist be denied the ability to USE them -- BUT he should only use them with the proper permission from the creators and, if required, pay any royalties due for that usage.

Marty Hayes
<9ball[_at_]hostsite.net> Received on Thu Mar 30 2000 - 15:51:11 GMT