Currently viewing the category: "Fair Use"

More on GSU and the publisher response

On May 22, 2012 By

Now that I am back from vacation and have read the GSU ruling and some of the commentary more thoroughly, I wanted to add a few additional comments.  In many cases these may be repetitive of things others have already said; I have not read all the commentary, of course, and some of this writing [...]

Continue Reading →

The GSU decision — not an easy road for anyone

On May 12, 2012 By

Overall there is good news for libraries in the decision issued late yesterday in the Georgia State University e-reserves copyright case.  Most of the extreme positions advocated by the plaintiff publishers were rejected, and Judge Evans found copyright infringement in only five excerpts from among the 99 specific reading that had been challenged in the [...]

Continue Reading →

A safe harbor, not an anchor

On April 30, 2012 By

Whenever Jonathan Band writes a “Friend of the Court” brief on behalf of the Library Copyright Alliance, it is sure to be worth careful reading.  One not only learns a lot about the particular case from Jonathan’s filings, but also a good deal about the legal and social place of libraries the U.S.

Jonathan’s [...]

Continue Reading →

Keeping it simple, or how to solve the Berne problem, part 2

On April 20, 2012 By

My first post about the Berkeley orphan works conference focused on what we had done to create the massive orphan works problem we now face, and what mistakes we should avoid in the future as we try to solve it.  Now I get to be a little more positive and discuss some of the suggestions [...]

Continue Reading →

A masterpiece of misdirection

On March 5, 2012 By

On February 28, the Authors Guild filed a memorandum in support of its “motion for partial judgment on the pleadings” in its lawsuit against the Hathi Trust and five of its partner libraries, asking the judge to rule that the activities the AG has complained about – the mass digitization of books and the [...]

Continue Reading →

Fair Use ferment

On February 2, 2012 By

There is a lot happening in fair use these days, even as we are still waiting for a decision in the Georgia State copyright infringement v. fair use case.

One of the realities of modern political campaigning is that candidates like to use popular music or other material to increase the energy and appeal of [...]

Continue Reading →

Tinkering with Article III

On January 11, 2012 By

Article III of the United States Constitution creates the Supreme Court and provides the skeletal framework for the federal courts system, which Congress is invited to flesh out.  Section 1338 of Title 28 of the United States Code establishes that the federal district courts are to have “original jurisdiction” over all civil actions arising [...]

Continue Reading →

What fair use is for

On December 20, 2011 By

When I considered the Authors’ Guild lawsuit against the Hathi Trust and some of its partner institutions a couple of months ago, only the complaint had been filed, so it it was natural to focus on the motivation of the plaintiffs.  And those motives are not hard to discern; after tasting the possibility of [...]

Continue Reading →

Streaming video case dismissed

On October 4, 2011 By

Yesterday a judge in Los Angeles dismissed the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by AIME, the Association for Information Media and Equipment, against UCLA.  The lawsuit had alleged that UCLA was infringing copyright by ripping DVDs to create a digital stream, which was then made available through a closed course management system to students in [...]

Continue Reading →

Is it all about the Orphans?

On September 15, 2011 By

In my post about the Author Guild’s lawsuit against HathiTrust and some of its university partners, I promise to consider further the question of why the complaint was so focused on orphan works.  Why the plaintiffs put so much emphasis there, since presumably they cannot show that they or the members they represent actually hold [...]

Continue Reading →