Re: Coursepacks

George L. Abbott <glabbott[_at_]syr.edu> wrote:
>
> On Sun, 21 Jun 1998, James Rogers <jetan[_at_]ionet.net> wrote:
> >
> > On 6/20/98, Steven Melamut <melas[_at_]ils.unc.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > The Court in Michigan Document Services clearly said that if the
> > > publisher is currently receiving income for these types of uses and
> > > the means of paying for your use is readily available, then the
> > > publisher is entitled to collect for the use. Giving the students
> > > copies of the articles to photocopy is still a deprivation of
> > > income. I don't think that the fact that the use is not-for-profit
> > > will shift the analysis away from that issue.
> >
> >
> > You may be right, but this is almost exactly opposite what I came
> > away fron the case with. It seemed to me that this was a staight
> > profit/non-profit and market impact case. Under MDS (and maybe *only*
> > that case) it seemed to me that the scheme described would be OK no
> > matter how many terms an instructor employed it.
>
> Two comments on the issue brought forth on this topic.
>
> The first regarding the ability of the student to make a copy
> where ever he chooses. The issue of fair use (as I read it) is
> based on the four criteria in section 107. If the use for that
> student is a "fair use" then where the student makes the copy or has
> the copy made cannot change that status. Each transaction must
> be viewed as a single action. There is a clause in section 108
> prohibiting "related or concerted reproduction" but section 107 very
> clearly allows "multiple copies for classroom use". To deny a
> student "fair use" copying at a commerical copy center is to deny him
> his legal rights under section 107.
>
> The second comment is what I see as being at the very heart of the
> coursepack discussion and what Kinko, Gnomon and other related cases
> are all about -- the creation of anthologies. This is specifically
> prohibited under the Guidelines for Classroom Copying (Section III,A)
>
> "Copying shall not be used to create or to replace or substitute for
> anthologies, compilations or collective works. Such replacement or
> substitution may occur whether copies or various works or excerpts
> therefrom are accumulated or reproduced and used separately"
>
> There is also a clause in these guidelines which state that copying
> may not "be directed by a higher authority"
>
> It is these latter areas that I think David should consider in
> relation to his question about the distribution of readings.

Although the law is slightly different in the UK, it may be of interest to know how this issue has been treated here. Classroom copying is covered by a blanket licence rather than any fair-use guidelines (it being accepted that fair dealing almost never extends to multiple copies). However, coursepacks are not covered under the blanket licence and are separately cleared. In recent negotiations for renewal, both the universities and the copyright holders agreed that the kind of contrived avoidance scheme being described in this thread was unacceptable.

-- 
Edward Barrow
edward[_at_]plato32.demon.co.uk