Kenny Crews, J.D., Ph.D.
Columbia University
Section 110(1) and (2)
cover this carefully
In general, classroom DISPLAY in face-to-face teaching
is easy
In COPYING and reproducing, law is tighter
and distance education is also more problematic
More:
TEACH Act covers this with major Policy Requirements.
Q&A--
1. "private use"?
USA law doesn't have "private use" clause, though international laws do;
but in USA, look at Fair Use clause and see if that applies
2. Watch it! the click-on agreement in general has lots of force, even if general
copyright law might allow things
3. "Visual Arts" school library archive--
digital archives of art and photos "the great unanswerable"--legal situation not clear;
showing images in CLASSROOM, displaying, is OK.
3.1 Yet making a copy onto disk (not even server) to actually DISPLAY the image, is not even clear.
3.2 Public domain image, like Michelangelo photo of the art, one court in New York ruled it's not protectable
(your reproduction has no rights either); but Picasso image, in modern times, a different situation
3.3 Michelle: possible 2nd Circuit court case of Grateful Dead posters in book was Fair Use, as transformative use;
Kenneth Crews--that is a landmark case (that case in the hands of a Federal Court a few years ago would have been seen as infringement even a few years ago)
4. Georgia State sued in April 2008 over electronic reserves;
not so transformative use; not clear how it will come out; may be out of court settlement as outcome.
The university itself seems protected by "sovereign immunity" in Federal Court for suit in dollars. Georgia case
is a suit for an injunction.
4.1 If you work for a public university or institution, "be good citizens"--don't break the law "within the scope of your employment."
5. TEACH Act question--based on it, meeting requirements, what about "subsequent use" semester after semester.
Once decision made in first semester, then repeated use seems OK if the first use was OK.
6. There are several avenues you can explore; if your use doesn't fit under specific provisions of the law, look
at Fair Use.
7. University Q--electronic reserves: if you apply for permission, but haven't received it, can you put it on ahead of permission?
7.1 A--sort of the "orphan works" issue. Key point till the bill is here, go back to Fair Use--"reasonable due diligence" seems to evidence that "there is no market for this material." Market Harm question seems to be answered. So look at the Fair Use four key factors.
8. Question on socially-constructed content, like wikis, blogs?
8.1 Answer--ownership under the law: "joint copyright ownership among multitudes of indeterminate people"
The fact is, a fragmentary collapse of copyright is happening. The application of generic rules to new situations is getting problematic. Copyright fanatic may get in the way of innovation, so don't necessarily get overwhelmed by these unclear areas--things are changing.