staggers@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Ken Staggers) (03/30/91)
From Chicago Tribune 3/30/91 A federal judge has ruled that Kinkos Graphics Corp violated copyright laws by copying excerpts from books used in college courses and selling them to students. In a victory for book publishers, US District Judge Constance Baker Motley ordered Thursday that Kinko's, which has some 200 stores nationwide, mostly near college campuses, stop the practice and pay damages of $510,000 as well as attorney fees and costs. The suit was filed in Manhattan federal court by Basic Books Inc, Harper & Row Publishers Inc., John Wiley & Sons...etc Ventura, CA-based Kinko admitted that it copied the excerpts without permission, compiled them into course "packets" and sold them to students. In this case, the packets were compiled based on orders placed by the professors at Columbia University, New York University, and the New School for Social Research as to what readings they needed for their courses. Kinko's then produced 300-400 page packets, including substantial portions of copyrighted books, at a cost of about $24 to the student. "Although Kinko's tries to impress this court with its purportedly altruistic motives, the facts show that Kinko's copying had the intended purpose of supplanting the copyright holders' commercially valuable right," the judge said. She pointed out that Kinko's provides incentives to professors who submit their course materials for copying. Those who "get in their orders early" receive a 10% discount card and the company provides campus pickup and delivery. "The extent of its insistence that theirs are educational concerns and not profitmaking ones boggles the mind," the judge ruled.
ogden@seal.cis.ohio-state.edu (William F Ogden) (04/03/91)
Ken Staggers writes: >From Chicago Tribune 3/30/91 > >A federal judge has ruled that Kinkos Graphics Corp violated copyright >laws by copying excerpts from books used in college courses and selling them >to students. ... Wow. Now I wonder if it's legal to copy articles from the Chicago Trib onto a network? Even worse, what about copying excerpts from illegally copied articles ... /Bill
perlman@poppy.cis.ohio-state.edu (Gary Perlman) (04/03/91)
In article <102586@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> ogden@seal.cis.ohio-state.edu (William F Ogden) writes: >Ken Staggers writes: > >>From Chicago Tribune 3/30/91 >> >>A federal judge has ruled that Kinkos Graphics Corp violated copyright >>laws by copying excerpts from books used in college courses and selling them >>to students. > ... > >Wow. Now I wonder if it's legal to copy articles from the Chicago Trib onto >a network? >Even worse, what about copying excerpts from illegally copied articles ... > >/Bill Onto a network? It may be legal. It depends on other factors. Copying excerpts from illegally copied articles may be legal if it is fair use. I am not a lawyer, so don't take this as advice.... Copyright violations are seldom black-and-white. "Fair use" cases allow for non-profit educational use of some materials. A decision about violation depends on the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of copied work, and the effect on market value. I assume that in the Kinkos case that _Kinkos_ role was not as a non-profit organization. In academic cases, if there is no profit, such as for a professor, then there still might be a violation if the extent of the copying is so broad that it reduces the value of a work. An obvious example would be to take an expensive book and make complete copies for the class; even if sold at cost by the professor, a publisher would be likely to claim loss of value of the copyrighted work. On the other hand, if a work is not in print, then it might be difficult to claim lost profits. So, (parts of) an occasional article on the network might not be a violation. It might increase the worth of the larger work by serving as advertising. But then, I would not want to be on the receiving end of a lawsuit, even if I eventually won. Copying (parts of) illegally copied work may be legal, if it passes the above criteria. If the copying party thinks that the work is in the public domain, then the damages might be directed to the original infringer. But here, I am less sure. -- Name: Gary Perlman | Computer and Information Science Department Email: perlman@cis.ohio-state.edu | Ohio State University, 228 Bolz Hall Phone: 614-292-2566 | 2036 Neil Avenue Mall Fax: 614-785-9837 or 292-9021 | Columbus, OH 43210-1277 USA