Re: professor as defendant

On Tue, 1 Jun 1999, Laura N. Gasaway <unclng[_at_]email.unc.edu> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 28 May 1999, Terry Carroll <carroll[_at_]tjc.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, 27 May 1999, David Wilson <davidwilson[_at_]ucsd.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > I subscribe to a college bookstore listserve, and received the
> > > following inquiry. Can anyone on this list answer the question?
> > > I will pass the answer on to the other list.
> > >
> > > > I am doing some research on copyright, and I know that there is a case
> > > > where a professor was sued for copyright infringement, but I can't for
> > > > the life of me remember the name of the case. Does anyone out there
> > > > know the name and/or details of the case? I would really appreciate it.
> > > > If you know of more than one, that's great, too!
> >
> > There are several. My favorite is Weissmann v. Freeman, 868 F.2d 1313
> > (2d Cir. 1989). A skirmish between an "accomplished professor and
> > brilliant assistant."
>
> Concerning professors as defendants. Also in the suit
> against NYU back in the early 1980s regarding coursepack
> copying, not only was the university sued but also 10 individual
> faculty members were named as defendants. By the time the case
> was settled one of the 10 faculty members had died -- the first
> known copyright fatality.

I can't seem to find a reported decision for a case involving academic fair use and I only recall a headline about it. It involved copying by some faculty in preparation for a course. They were eventually held liable for infringement of the materials that they ended not using. Is this a false memory?

Dee Cabell

--

Diane Cabell
http://www.mama-tech.com/
Fausett, Gaeta & Lund, LLP
Boston, MA
<cabell[_at_]mama-tech.com>