A follow up on yesterday’s post: Safe harbor textbook copying percentages for copyright fair use defense.
The Georgia State 10 percent Copying Rule….What if 10 Libraries from 10 different library systems each copy one chapter of a 10 chapter textbook and make it available on the Internet at the same time?
Make no mistake about your interpretation of the stakes involved in the Georgia State decision. College libraries are trying, without explicitly declaring, to constructively destroy the textbook industry that no longer ought to be entitled to copyright protection granted in this country a long long time ago to offset the cost of paper print. There is no moral highground or low ground at 9.9 percent or 10.1 percent.
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The fate of an estimated 25 million English language orphan works hangs in the balance as Great Britian awaits the report of Professor Ian Hargraeves.
BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz writes that much of the support for a not-for-profit licensing system comes from the copyright enforcing publishing world itself, which now realizes the profit potential of digitaliation of archives.
We hope that the holders of these archive materials take action, licensing statutes in place or otherwise, before the certain and ongoing deterioration of physical works causes irreperable harm to our cultural history.
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As the Authors Guild pursues here in New York its injunctive relief copyright case against the Hathitrust Orphan Works project, it sues, among others, Hathitrust, The Regents Of The University Of Michigan, The Regents of the University of California, The Board Of Regents Of The University Of Wisconsin System, The Trustees Of Indiana University, and Cornell Universit.
We turn our attention to the eloquent letter of Kevin Smith, Duke’s Scholarly Communication Officer to plaintiff author J.R. Salamanca, whose 1958 out of print novel appears to be on the verge of extinction. Mr. Smith writes:
“I am sure I do not have to tell you that libraries, including those that intend to participate in the Hathi Orphan Works project, are not your enemies. We are in the business of helping authors find readers, which hardly seems like it should be an objectionable activity. So let’s think for a minute about The Lost Country and what might be best for it and for you.”
Our friends at TechDirt are less diplomatic: Novelist Joins Lawsuit Against Libraries; Would Apparently Prefer His Book Rot In Obscurity.
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Rebecca Blain and TechDirt force us to ask the question of whether there are really attorneys practicing law who formulate such draconian threats about what we cannot do with our eBook files:
“Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distrubition rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the South African Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or other method currently known or not yet invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.”
Three cheers to the legal team for “Last of the Lesser Kings,” the precious book in question.
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