According to our university and local copy center, You can make copyrighted material available to a class so long as it's only a small percentage of a book (don't remember the precise percentage), and so long as it's set up so that each person gets a copy for personal use only. In other words, you can scan a chapter and put it on a class-accessible-only password protected web site for use on-line or download, or you can have the students pay for their own copies of the work. Many people I know include limited numbers of chapters from books in class readers that the students order individually from the copy center. The key, as mentioned below, is personal use only, and (for educational purposes) only a limited number of chapters from any given book. Diane
-----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David M. Lawrence Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 4:24 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Update to "trying to find a book," copyrights? I love to see discussios over copyright lead by people who don't know what they are talking about. It is NOT a "blatant violation of copyright" to copy a portion of a book, even the entire thing, for personal use. Section 107 of the copyright law discusses the concept of fair use. It may be a blatant violation to photocopy all or a portion of a copyrighted work and make it available to others such that it affects the commercial value of the work. That's apparently not what Patrick is suggesting. If one is concerned about stealing rights or money from authors' pockets, buy the book NEW! Neither authors nor publishers -- in the United States, anyway -- get any financial benefit from either used book sales or from library circulation. Before anyone else makes grand pronoucements about what they think is or is not allowed by copyright law, they should check http://www.copyright.gov before making themselves look stupid. Finally, as the author of a copyrighted work -- who would love to see royalties some day (likely an unachievable fantasy) -- I would say copy what you need (for personal or scholarly use only). It does not sound like Arnett needs the money now, and if the book ain't in print, his estate isn't going to benefit, either. Dave L. Brian Patrick wrote: > Hello everyone! > > 1 person was quite adamant about not photocopying/scanning the book, > saying it is a "blatant violation of copyright" and I would "be > stealing right from [the authors'] pockets." Is it okay for me to > photocopy/scan the whole book if both authors are dead, the book is > out of print, the publisher is defunct, and there are no copies to be > located despite an enormous effort to find a copy? I would not be > distributing the material, nor would I be using it for a class or with > students or > others-- pretty much for my own use only. > > Thanks again, everyone, for all the help! > > Brian Patrick > -- ------------------------------------------------------ David M. Lawrence | Home: (804) 559-9786 7471 Brook Way Court | Fax: (804) 559-9787 Mechanicsville, VA 23111 | Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] USA | http: http://fuzzo.com ------------------------------------------------------ "We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo "No trespassing 4/17 of a haiku" -- Richard Brautigan
