Re: Coursepacks

On Sat, June 27, 1998, Dan L. Burk <burkdanl[_at_]shu.edu> wrote:
>
> On 06/25/98, John Noble <jnoble[_at_]dgsys.com> wrote:
> >
> > On 6/24/98, Dan L. Burk <burkdanl[_at_]shu.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hm, yes -- and while you're at it, be sure to contact me to get
> > > permission to visit Yellowstone, Yosemite, or other national parks --
> > > I will be happy to sell you permission to visit public lands at a
> > > great price.
> >
> > Is your point here that permission is never required to reprint
> > articles in coursepacks, or that CCC can't grant that authority,
> > or that David's course is like a day in the park. Actually my
> > initial reaction to Post's post was 'hell, given what they're
> > paying for tuition, and what a textbook would cost, an authorized
> > coursepack wouldn't dent the wallet much.'
>
> My point is that if I set up a system to sell people tickets to visit
> public lands, and then when they failed to purchase them from me, sued
> and cited as evidence of my right to collect royalties on public lands
> the fact that I had set up a licensing system, the judge would (I hope)
> smirk cynically and throw me out of court on my ear.
>
> But this exact scam is what the CCC is doing with their "academic
> permissions system," and incredibly, we take it seriously.
>
> Lydia Loren has a nice article on this called "Redifining the Market
> Failure Approach to Fair Use," that just came out in the Journal of
> Intellectual Property Law (Fall 1997). I recommend it for a reality
> check.

Not having the deep interest in avoiding payment of legally due copyright fees, and as a publisher/editor/writer and business person, I have no doubt that my having assigned the right to collect copyright fees on my (publications') behalf to CCC is justified, and beneficial to those who want an easy method to pay for what they use. A legitimate "user's fee".

Fredrick Rea O'Keefe "Rick"
fredrick[_at_]tech-center.com
sales/marketing writing 813-933-1575
Member, National Writers Union (NWU)
Copyright 1997/1998, All Rights Reserved Received on Sat Jun 27 1998 - 13:55:12 GMT