Re: Coursepacks-outsourcing online distribution

On Fri, 16 Apr 1999, David Wilson <davidwilson[_at_]ucsd.edu> wrote:
>
> I recommend the joint APA/NACS publication, Questions & Answers on
> Copyright for the Campus Community (or similar title), which has an
> extensive discussion of fair use in the campus setting. While not
> controlling, it has been cited and its guidelines discussed in federal
> district and circuit court opinions. A reading will probably change
> your mind about the significance of profit/non-profit enterprises
> as a controllling factor. Much more important are spontaneity,
> length/percentage of the selection, number of selections per course,
> etc. As the previous responder wrote, a copy is a copy and diminishes
> the value of the copyright. The distinction you are trying to draw
> may lie more properly between the researcher/copier as individual
> (fair use) and the enterprise/copier as reseller -- whether for- or
> not-for-profit (get permission).
>

Let me come to Georgia's defense here. She gets this distinction directly from the last major case to address the academic copyright issue, PUP v. MDS. The determinative factor to the court seemed to be the fact that Michigan Document Services was a for-profit business not affiliated with the University. I think the case is wrong in result and wrong to rely on that factor, but if you changed that factor the result in the case would likely change.

Mark Lemley
<mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu> Received on Mon Apr 19 1999 - 17:42:00 GMT