Software and Fair Use Doctrine

   In reply to the stuation presented by Michael S. Hines at Purdue, I am another end user of various media at the University of Michigan. I have always assumed that all four criteria of Sec 107 should be considered. If my boss told me to go ahead an copy all the software I need because it was fair use under Sec. 107, I would get very nervous about it.

   Instead, we have been buying academic site-licensed software. The licensed is limited to 10 computers, but it is affordable, and keeps us in compliance. If it turns out we are wasting our money here, please let me know. I have a lot of computers in operation that can use some new software, not to mention loading up software that is only licensed for one computer, and is only rarely used, but it is such a pain to keep track of it. Putting it on a lot of machines would make my life easier.

      David Crandall
      AV Programs Coordinator
      L.S.A. Media Services
      University of Michigan
      David.Crandall[_at_]um.cc.umich.edu