Re: E-mailing newspaper articles fair use?

On Sat, Feb 13, 1999, Tyler Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> wrote:
>
> On Feb 11, 1999, Robert Cumbow <cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 10, 1999, Betsy R. Cramer <betsrob[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Is copy/pasting newspaper articles to another or to others because
> > > of their assumed interest permitted as a fair use exception to
> > > copyright? Increasingly, I see newspaper/ magazine articles passed
> > > around, sometimes with the name of the newspaper, sometimes not;
> > > sometimes exercepts, sometimes the complete article. I believe
> > > that most articles are by contract with the copyright held by the
> > > publication.
> >
> > Republishing and/or distributing a copyrighted news article in its
> > full unedited form is an activity for which permission of the
> > copyright owner is required.
>
> I disagree, as I think there is a respectable fair use argument here.
> It is extremely unlikely that sending an e-mail copy of a newspaper
> article to someone else is subsituting for an authorized sale. Sending
> a clipping from the original is a fair use because of the first-sale
> doctrine (even though Mirage might indicate otherwise), so the same
> privilege out to apply in electronic form, despite the incidental
> reproduction needed.
>
> Posting the article to a web-site, on the other hand, probably is not
> be a fair use, since the number of people who now have access to the
> article without having to pay for the original has increased greatly.
> Posting the article to a listserv (as opposed to a few individuals) is
> somewhere in between the two.

To clarify:

Sending a clipping from a newspaper I've bought to one person is undoubtedly permissible under the First Sale Doctrine.

I assumed that the poster was asking about wide distribution of news articles to several recipients. This is a redistribution of the work, and is not permitted without the permission of the copyright owner. I believe newspaper clipping services have to have licenses to engage in this kind of activity.

Bob Cumbow
cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com
206-583-8566 Received on Tue Feb 16 1999 - 16:43:06 GMT