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Fair use and course packets
Apr. 17th, 2008 12:10 pmAnother really interesting law suit about fair use and digital rights. Three publishers are suing Georgia State University for electronic course packs.
On the one hand, you have fair use--the argument that universities should be allowed to distribute copyrighted material to their students for free because of its educational value. Hand in hand with this is the increasing clamor about reducing costs for college students, particularly for textbooks.
On the other hand, you have massive systemic distribution of copyrighted material with no attempt to gain permission or pay licensing fees. Especially since some of these plaintiffs are academic presses, if universities aren't going to pay them no one will, and the whole world of academic presses implodes in a puff of smoke.
I can see both sides of this case; it would be bad for presses to prevent students from having access to important materials by imposing huge fees, but it would also be bad for professors to hide behind the bulwark of their university and insist they get everything for free. All I know is I had to pay a ton for course packets in college, and not all of that could have been going to Pequod copy center.
On the one hand, you have fair use--the argument that universities should be allowed to distribute copyrighted material to their students for free because of its educational value. Hand in hand with this is the increasing clamor about reducing costs for college students, particularly for textbooks.
On the other hand, you have massive systemic distribution of copyrighted material with no attempt to gain permission or pay licensing fees. Especially since some of these plaintiffs are academic presses, if universities aren't going to pay them no one will, and the whole world of academic presses implodes in a puff of smoke.
I can see both sides of this case; it would be bad for presses to prevent students from having access to important materials by imposing huge fees, but it would also be bad for professors to hide behind the bulwark of their university and insist they get everything for free. All I know is I had to pay a ton for course packets in college, and not all of that could have been going to Pequod copy center.