[Buddha-l] Fair Use behind Closed Classroom Doors

[Warner Belanger]

Hello everyone,

Regarding Franz's question:
1) What is the current limit on "fair use" in academia? Last I
checked, restrictions were so onerous that Cal State LA (a very
large and, I reckon, sue-able institution) made it almost
impossible for me to reprint anything useful in a reader. I took
to using *only* web resources and skipping printing altogether.
Which leads to...

I found that putting together a reader nowadays also to be impossible. This
surprised me, but it's been a long time since I actually purchased a reader.
I think that the following guidelines for copyright at enlightening to look
at, particularly given Georgia's recent past with copyright battles.

http://www.usg.edu/legal/copyright/

I believe the relevant section is the following:

*2. Posting Copyrighted Article to Web Page*

*SCENARIO F:* A professor has posted his class notes on a Web page available
to the public. He wants to scan an article from a copyrighted journal and
add it to his Web page.

QUESTION: Is this a fair use?

ANSWER: It depends. If access to his Web page is restricted, then this is a
fair use. If access is not limited, then this use is probably not a fair
use. No exclusively educational purpose can be guaranteed by putting the
article on the Web, and such conduct would arguably violate the copyright
holder's right of public distribution.


Finally, last year I had MIT students as roommates. I think they would not
have been eager to purchase $150 books unless absolutely necessary.

Best,

Warner