Re: Permission to copy whole works in alternative forms

   I'd like to correct an earlier message of mine about the publishers' position on works for the blind at the CONFU (fair use) hearings.... Here is what actually happened (I ran my own comments by one of the participants who has a better memory of the discussion -- these meetings went on and on and on, and I think my mind drifted on this topic):

   The publishers did not want Fair Use to equate to Good Use, and decided not to deal with works for the blind under fair use but instead to seek legislative relief. The publishers cooperated with the National Federation for the Blind and the American printing House for the Blind and the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic and the American Council for the Blind and drafted the only copyright legislation that passed last Congress and it provides AN EXEMPTION to permit any non-profit organization that primarly serves the blind to make copies for audio and Braille wihtout need for permission or prior approval. This new exemption went into effect immediately and solved their problems. They can digitize print and use the computer files to generate Braille - they can digitize and create voice synthesis and they can record and make Braille. Since this is an exemption for the Blind, they didn't need large print.

   In other words, they wanted the needs of the blind to be served, but not under the umbrella of fair use.

Pat McNees
<103250.2371[_at_]CompuServe.COM>

That explanation is a correction to the following, which I sent earlier, and which wrongly made the publishers sound like Bad Guys, an error writers tend to make!

> In response to Karen Porter's comment about copyright questions
> inherent in books-on-tape and books for the blind
>
> Because "audio books" for the Blind could be viewed as intruding
> on the potential market for audio books for the average person -- and
> because large-type books for the visually impaired could be viewed as
> intruding on the growing market for large-type books for the aging baby
> boomer, publishers in the recent CONFU (fair use) discussions greatly
> objected to including "books for the blind" under the fair use
> discussions, and insisted that they be handled separately.
>
> I gather this is the same reason that Books for the Blind through the
> Library of Congress are available only on special cassettes not usable
> on the average cassette player.
Received on Thu May 29 1997 - 18:53:28 GMT