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copyright issuesNOTES FROM 12/17/01 meeting with Howard BesserWe are primarily interested in using our resources educationally. This is a safe harbor for us: if someone challenges a copyright, we will only have to renegotiate with them or take their part of the resource down. Tasini vs. NY Times may be relevant to us: summary A group of freelancers led by Jonathan Tasini argued that the inclusion of his articles in electronic databases like Nexis violated the 1976 Copyright Act by placing a new version of the article outside the original context of the newspaper. Specifically, Section 201C of the act states that "the owner of copyright in a collective work [e.g., a newspaper or magazine] is presumed to have acquired only the privilege of reproducing and distributing the contribution as part of that particular work, [along with] any revision of that collective work...." In effect, it's OK for a company to publish alternate versions -- Braille, large type, microfilm, etc. -- of a newspaper or magazine without reimbursing freelancers who hold the copyright on a particular article, but it cannot sell [emphasis mine, rf] an individual copy of that article, either on its own or as part of a new collection of works. Relevant websites [looking for commentary and especially for release language and examples of practical solutions. rf] Legal
Information Institute.Supreme
Court Collection The
Tasini Ruling: What the Future Holds Copyright law created in the
age of the photocopier laid waste to digital reproduction. By
Michael S. Overing, OJR Columnist In
the Wake of Tasini How alt pubs should get their freelance house
in order By Alice Neff Lucan AAN News (Assn. of Alternative
Newsweeklies) SEPTEMBER 27, 2001 The
Fallout from Tasini Publishers, database vendors consider their
next steps By J.D. Lasica Special to The Digital Edge July 2001
We need to document the creation of our resources better in the future, not just publications, not just the Web, but develop a process to document every resource. ===================== Draft notice that might go on the EDAM website and maybe on the Exp website: "Copyright for some of the materials here may be held by others and we do have the premission to give, but if you meet certain criteria for fair use, you may be able to make educational use of it." ===================== Concensus of the group: --It is ok to reprint an entire issue of the magazine in PDF format. --It is ok to reprint individual articles which we own or have negotiated the rights for. --It is not ok to reprint individual articles which we do not own. |