greggt@ncoast.UUCP (Gregg Thompson) (01/22/86)
Could someone please give me a FULL analysis of the `Fair Use' clause
in the copyright laws?
Some of my friends, most of them whom are teachers, are beginning to
get worried about making copies of copyright materials for classroom use. The
teachers who are getting into computers are especially worried. A high school
near us is being sued because the school would create a backup of all the
software they receive and also make a copy for each computer they have.
If this is illegal why? Why is there a `Fair Use' clause? What
privileges does the `Fair Use' clause provide?
So if anybody can help me out I would really appreciate it! Please
be as explicit and don't leave anything out. Any and all information and
even actual cases of this problem will be very welcomed.
Please send ALL responses to me, I will post a summary to the net iff
there is enough response to make a response aplicable.
Thank you,
Gregg Thompson
{ihnp4, ucbvax, decwrl, philabs, seismo}!decvax!cwruecmp!ncoast!greggt
--
If you are using a database for net-addresses PLEASE make sure that `atvax' is
not connected to ncoast in your database!rjb@akgua.UUCP (rjb) (01/24/86)
I'm not a lawyer and can't discuss the "Fair Use" clause, but
as far as the High School Teacher and the Software copying,
he/she may have a problem for a different reason.
Most of the commercial software packages I have handled have
a licensing agreement which you implicitly agree to abide by
if you break the sealed package with the diskettes inside.
(Lawyers please comment on whether that is going to survive
a court challenge!)
One of the terms of this license is that you can only make backup
copies of the diskettes for YOUR particular machine. Copying the
diskettes and passing them around is a violation of the license
the software producer is granting to YOU and grounds for legal
nastiness.
Being ignorant of the "Fair Use" clause I can't speak authoritatively,
but I suspect that the licensing agreement would supersede it.
Bob Brown {...ihnp4!akgua!rjb}hes@ncsu.UUCP (01/24/86)
The Fair Use of written materials usually applies to copying *portions* of copyrighted works. E.g., you want to discuss the sentence structure of several authors, so you copy one paragraph from each of 5 books and hand this page out to your English class. This is legal as fair use. A good rule of thumb is that such copying should not reduce the market for the book (or other copyrighted work.) It is hard to think of fair use examples for computer programs. (Maybe small extracts showing different styles of register usage?) Generally computer programs are copied as a *whole*, and used in exactly such a manner as to decrease the market for that program. A school buying one copy, and then making additional copies for a number of school computer is *cleary* violating the copyright law in exactly this manner. (Making a backup copy for the one computer you have is not doing the same thing.) --henry schaffer #include <disclaimer_not_lawyer.h>