Comments on: Questions over Cousepacks

By: Taylor

Taylor — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:20:14 +0000

However, isn’t this still risky because you must argue fair use AFTER someone has accused you of infringement? And since fair use decisions vary on a case-by-case basis, it is possible that a course pack that would seem to fall under fair use could be deemed infringement. Thus, it ultimately seems safer to switch to a service like XanEdu, which assures 100% copyright compliancy.

I think this issue highlights the fair use problem quite nicely!

By: AshleyAshley

AshleyAshley — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:30:03 +0000

I agree with the “Fair Use” argument! Course packets are not redistributions of entire books for a “special” price, but instead “reasonable” portions of relevant material extracted from these texts verbatim. Because these portions of text are usually extracted directly from the original text, all author and text acknowledgement (such as author name, text title, and page number) are provided for the student or reader’s reference. Also, I wonder if the fact that course-readers are compilations specifically designed by the professor, in terms of the organization of each text portion, would fall under Fair Use…

By: Taylor

Taylor — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:44:14 +0000

I would argue that although there is definite infringement if permission is not acquired before creating the course packs, they fall under fair use. Course packs typically do not copy the majority of the texts from which they take excerpts. Also, they are for educational purposes, not commercial profit. I would also argue that they do not significantly effect the market for the copyrighted work, though this one is debatable. As for the nature of the work, I am having trouble where this fits in with the other three factors of fair use, so maybe someone can jump in…

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:38:00 +0000

Katherine asks the question we always need to be thinking about in this class, i.e. WWCLS? (What Would Copyright Law Say?). From what Austin tells us above and our own intuition, I think we can probably assume that the copy shop coursebooks are not getting permissions/licenses for each work.

So then we’re firmly in the territory of the copyright statutes, and you guys should be able to work through the analysis at this point. Are the copy shop packets infringing any of the rights from Section 106, and if so, which ones? And if there is infringement, is it nonetheless excused by fair use under Section 107?

Even if one of you doesn’t have all the answers, together you should be able to put the pieces together here.

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:24:15 +0000

I’m not sure the First Amendment will save you here. It’s focused on your ability to speak, not your ability to hear others speak. So, to the extent that one could make out such a claim (and I think it would be pretty difficult under existing law), it would be an author’s claim to make, not yours.

That said, it’s absolutely a ripe area for student activism. Just because you’re not having a specific constitutional right violated in a judicially-cognizable way does not mean you’re not getting screwed

By: JP

JP — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:34:45 +0000

While it is obvious, that this method clearly serves the purpose of taking more student money, I wonder why students seemingly aren’t doing anything about it. As a student community, we have, just like everybody else, the First Amendment right. I guess most schools, are used to a majority of students just paying relentless horrendous amounts of money, since they see it as a long term investment ( why, for instance, are bookstores still around if a book can be purchased for less than half the original price online, or obtained from the reserve desk). I think it is similar with the copyright discussion existing in this case. Although copyright holders are already collecting royalties in the first round of payment, there are still students who don’t give much thought to a double payment. Although I consider it a waste of money, the majority would have to realize and see it the same way, in order to form a voice that prevents the student body to be subjected to such a surcharge.

By: kbang

kbang — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:29:20 +0000

Wow! I guess I was lucky that I never had to buy a course pack through the book store for any of my classes. I didn’t know that it costs that much when purchased at the school book store compared to the cop center. Well, I don’t think it is only the book store in our college that seems to rip students off. However, I was just wondering if the course packet that we purchase at the copy center for 10-15$ is illegal. Is it?