Posted by Justice on July 21, 2001, at 23:17:47
In reply to Re: expert on internet copyright issues, posted by Dr. Bob on July 21, 2001, at 14:23:28
Consider a hypothetical. I establish the “World Internet University.” I charge nothing for access or membership. I create a massive on-line server array that provides, in their entirety, “educational” articles about almost every subject known to humankind, lifted from but attributed to the world’s most reputable publications. Would that be “fair use”?
It would not be fair, because visitors to my site could avoid the advertising efforts of the original publisher, and the original publishers could get fewer “hits” when users chose my site instead.
Below is a selection of current on-line resources about copyrights and fair use on-line. Though one can always stretch their imagination, there is little in these sources that implies participants in a self-help group have a right to help themselves to published material under the fair use clause of U.S. copyright law. While fair use allows limited classroom use, this site is not a limited classroom setting.
Perhaps someone else here will contact some of these sources and ask them to explain here, on a volunteer basis as a guest expert, the concepts of copyright and fair use on line.
Of course, while we might want an expert to tell us what to do, we also need to think for our selves. Please remember, even IF one were to find an expert who would suggest that reproducing entire copyrighted articles on a self-help site is fair use, and IF the courts were to eventually support the argument, publishers would likely appeal to Congress to close the loophole. That is what happened in the 1990s with the free on-line distribution of software. If users of this site, in this thread, attempt to advance the “help your self” philosophy of fair use, links to this thread can become the seed of an effort to close such a loophole. Of course, on the other hand, that could make Dr. Bob more famous :-o
FindLaw on fair use:
By Marie A. D'Amico, Esq.
http://lawcrawler.findlaw.com/MAD/FAIRUSE.HTMInternet Basics and Copyright Law
By Jon D. Grossman and Cyrill P. Rigamonti
http://www.gcwf.com/articles/journal/jil_june98_2.html
Journal of Internet Law
http://www.gcwf.com/journal/index.htmlAssociation for the Protection of Internet Copyright
http://www.a-w.orgSome Observations on Copyright Law: Copying on the Internet
By Ronald B. Standler
http://www.rbs2.com/copyr.htm#anchor555555Internet Copyright Law FAQ
By Tad Crawford
http://www.allworth.com/Articles/article06.htmBituse - A resource on technology law: Fair Use in Copyright
http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/fair_use.html
What is copyright protection?
By R. Delgado-Martinez
http://whatiscopyright.org/
Copyright on the Internet
Thomas G. Field, Jr.
http://www.fplc.edu/tfield/copyNet.htm
Grey Day
http://www.greyday.org***********
The fair use statute, 17 USC §107, says:
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include –
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.************
When, in 1995, there were no laws protecting some software from on-line distribution, MIT student David LaMacchia beat a wire-fraud charge for distributing software on-line. But in dismissing the charge, District Court Judge Richard Stearns still had this to say about LaMacchia:“one might at best describe his actions as heedlessly irresponsible and at worst as nihilistic, self-indulgent, and lacking in any fundamental sense of values”
poster:Justice
thread:1598
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20010718/msgs/1620.html