FW: [bookshare-discuss] Copyright and scanning a book for personnal use ----- Original Message ----- From: Lisa Friendly To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 2:20 AM Subject: [bookshare-discuss] FW: Copyright and scanning a book for personnal use
Hi list, I asked Jim to comment on James's question as well. Here is his response. Lisa ------ Forwarded Message From: Jim Fruchterman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 23:23:25 -0800 To: Lisa Friendly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Conversation: [bookshare-discuss] Copyright and scanning a book for personnal use Subject: RE: [bookshare-discuss] Copyright and scanning a book for personnal use The short answer to James' question (from a non-lawyer, I'll admit), has been Section 107, rather than Section 121 (Chafee). Section 107 is the "fair use" section. Now, Section 107 is not clear-cut (http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html). It doesn't explicitly permit people with disabilities scanning a book for their own personal use (not for redistribution), but it's a plausible defense against a claim of copyright violation. The odds of a publisher or author suing an individual blind person for scanning a book for personal access is just about zero. That changes when you redistribute it to other people, because you're decreasing your minimal financial impact defense (one of the four fair use factors) and increasing your risk of being sued. That's why Bookshare.org comes in handy: we're there to provide a clear cut way to share books in the community that is more clearly permitted. Jim Fruchterman ------ Forwarded Message From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 11:14:08 -0800 (PST) To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Copyright and scanning a book for personnal use I was intrigued when Jim from Bookshare mentioned that blind individuals could crack an e-book so that they can read it with a screen reader. I located a judgment from the librarian of congress who passes out the exemptions for the Digital millennium copyright law. And indeed a blind person can crack an e-book in order to be able to read it with a screen reader. But I was wondering where is the permission to scan a book, so that you can read it with a screen reader, Kurzweil 1000 or a Book Port? The Chaffee amendment allows an organization like Bookshare to scan and distribute books for people with print disabilities. But where's the legislation that protects users like you and me in terms of our making copies of books and altering them into digital format for reading? Any information would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure this is not going to change my behavior, but I am interested in the issue. James Nuttall -- Michigan ------ End of Forwarded Message ------ End of Forwarded Message To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
