Re: copyright changes

On Thu, Jun 10, 1999, Lynn Winebarger <owinebar[_at_]indiana.edu> wrote:
>
> On Wed, 9 Jun 1999, Craig Hayward <chayward[_at_]hbmaynard.com> wrote:
> >
> > I'm not saying I don't totally agree with you, but I think (at least
> > in my experience) people are pretty good about agreeing to terms and
> > conditions that are spelled out. In fact people have asked me about
> > the disclaimer before and I've told them so they are clear. To
> > educate using my drawing or idea is fine. To sell my ideas as someone
> > else's, is not fine. This is what needs to be spelled out to more
> > people. I think fair use needs to be spelled out more to people in
> > these situations as well. I've worked in information retrieval and
> > gathering and don't totally understand everything.
>
> The thing is, fair use does not have explicit limits - I mean, there
> are obvious cases that fall beyond the pale (making your own editions of
> copyrighted books to be sold at bookstores comes to mind), but from what
> I can tell most established limits on fair use are minimums, with acts
> over that needing a decision by the judiciary in the specific case. I
> for one am not in favor of "educating" people to ask permission for fair
> uses - as was noted on this list earlier, always seeking permission
> inherently weakens the rights protected by fair use.

Yes, I agree with you on the point of education may dilute public rights in fair use. I just think people need to know what they are getting themselves into. My point was not about educating the masses, it was about educating the "experts". If I use materials for a course, I'm ok. If I tutor someone on the same subject and use the same materials, I may be in violation. Now in both circumstances, I am still profiting from use of the materials (yes we can argue about educational circumstances, etc.). Setting, may be a limit of fair use. Same situation, different setting. I know this is a circular argument, but that's my point.

If I don't know where my boundaries are, then I have no idea when I'm infringing upon anyone else's rights. Even if I spell out the "minimum" limits, there still are limits. The boundaries are there. So what/where are they?

I work for an organization that does training for clients. We have differing situations that require looking at fair use. We have techniques and books that we are expert in, but the publishing company (for our textbooks) holds many of the rights to our own materials. In other words, we have needed before to ask for permission to use our own materials for preparing training courses and currently in writing one very large handbook.

So it's not always as simple as needing to say there is a minimum level on fair use. In some cases you do have to ask permission every time you use something or face the judiciary to decide your fate.

Craig Hayward
<chayward[_at_]hbmaynard.com> Received on Fri Jun 11 1999 - 14:22:28 GMT