Lynne Porat writes from Haifa:
>
>Is it fair use to make one copy without
>gaining permission from the publisher, assuming that the work is
>unobtainable and out of print?, Does it make a difference if the work is
>placed in the Reserves Department of the library?. If the publisher/author
>does grant copyright permission is he entitled to request payment?
I realize that your question may relate as much to the established practice of U.S. academic libraries as it does to copyright law, but I will confine my response to the law. First, U.S. copyright law does not extend to acts committed in Israel or any other foreign country. So from a legal perspective, the question of whether your copying of works is fair use or an infringement is controlled by Israeli law even if the works are of U.S. authors and/or publishers. To the extent that U.S. law is relevant, I assume you are interested in the U.S. Copyright Act provision that permits libraries to make replacement copies of deteriorating, lost or stolen works in certain circumstances, although there are other instances where library copying and distribution is expressly permitted as well or may be a fair use. That provision provides that it is not a copyright infringement for a library that is open to the public, or at least to researchers other than just those who are affiliated with the institution of which the library is part, to make a copy for noncommercial purposes of a published work that is lost, stolen or deteriorated if the library has, after reasonable effort, determined that an unused replacement cannot be obtained at a fair price. Israel's Copyright Act of 1911 has no such parallel provision, although it is possible that such copying would be considered to be fair dealing under Section 2(1).
Neil Netanel Phone: 512-471-2679 Assistant Professor Fax: 512-471-6988University of Texas School of Law
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