Re: copyright changes

On Thu, 10 Jun 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.

Since I work for a University bookstore, I assume the note about making our own editions is directed toward us. We are in a dilemma when a professor wants to use copyrighted material in a reader or syllabus, because we, as a governmental entity (we are a state university) are absolutely under the "onus" of the law. We must seek copyright permission, and pay the requested price for said permission, or we do not print the material. Our professors are instructed that they may deal with whomever they choose to have materials printed, but in the event of legal action, they will only be backed up if they had the materials printed on campus by the campus entity designated. If they choose to go off-campus and there is legal action taken because copyright was not properly requested, the university cannot defend the professor.

The sad part is, by doing our job properly, we have professors going off campus, and passing the word to other professors that they should go off campus, since the on-campus entity takes too much time and costs too much. Publishers as a whole do not respond quickly to requests for copyright permission. And there are times when the asking price for the permissions is prohibitive, and they choose not to have it printed on campus. Amazingly, the students still manage to get the materials - but not in a legal fashion. And we as the campus entities following the letter of the law, no matter how gray it may be, are blamed for being nonresponsive to the academic community - because we won't just take something and print it, no questions asked.

Your comment, "always seeking permission inherently weakens the rights protected by fair use" confuses me, though. It does not weaken the rights. They are there, and will remain there. Seeking permission, however, and running into brick walls in dealing with publishers, DOES weaken the particular entities which DO follow the guidelines of fair use and copyright. In some respects, publishers are their own worst enemies. It is not our job to police the copy stores around our campus. And if we can't get permission to print in a timely manner, we lose the business to the offcampus entity who will print, permission or no.

Barb

Barbara Ruhmann
Text Buyer
UCD Bookstore
University of California, Davis
Phone 530-752-5538
Fax 530-752-4791
http://www-bookstore.ucdavis.edu/
<brruhmann[_at_]ucdavis.edu> Received on Fri Jun 11 1999 - 15:42:30 GMT