Re: Academics and coursepacks

Michael Scarpitti <mscarpit[_at_]asnt.org> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 25 Jun 1998, Michael Scarpitti <mscarpit[_at_]asnt.org> wrote:
> >
> > It surprises me to no end that so many academic types find it
> > "inconvenient" to pay for rights to works
>
> Somehow this original statement of mine (which has generated a lot of
> comment) has become twisted in the replies. What I meant by "academic
> types" was professors and teachers, (especially those who are
> anti-business), who somehow find uncomfortable the notion that one
> should pay for the products and services one receives from the sweat of
> another's brow or the investment of another's capital. The "educational"
> exemptions are badly abused in the schemes proposed in the original
> (coursepack) inquiry. If the instructor for the class himself edited and
> wrote all the material, (and it is unpublished otherwise) he need not
> ask anyone's permission to assemble a coursepack, because it's all his
> own property.
>
> If the professor is teaching a Shakespeare class, and he has copies of
> the original folios, from which he makes a new text containing his own
> emendations, there is no problem with copyright as the original material
> is in the public domain. If, however, he uses the new Oxford
> Shakespeare (ed. by Wells?) and simply photocopies (or asks the students
> to do so; or has Kinko's do so) a play or two for a class of 200, we
> have a serious problem, regardless of who does the copying. For the
> prof to refuse to ask permission is outright arrogant thievery. That's
> why the CCC was established: so those who need to can obtain clearance
> without suffering unnecessary delays and going through elaborate
> procedures.
>
> The analogy to national parks is all wet; these copyrighted works are
> hardly "natural" creations: They are the handiwork of men and women who
> deserve to be compensated for the use of their property.
 

Are your seriously suggesting that payment should be made to the CCC for public domain materials. Say a play without comments, or a sonnet? As an academic who respects copyright and pays for permissions for use of copyrighted materials in coursepacks (except where I have obtained permission from the copyright holder to use the information without royalty) I can tell you that I would never pay for a public domain material. Also I would also question if all articles in a coursepack require royalties to the CCC. Many scholarly journals include a permission for use for non-profit educational use without payment. I do not feel I should have to pay for something I am entitled to use for free just because there is an easy way to do so.

-- 
S. Warwick
swarwick[_at_]sprynet.com