--- Forwarded Message from Beth Secrist <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 09:18:17 -0500
>From: Beth Secrist <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>Organization: University of Tennessee
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum     <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #6490.8 Destinos digitization(!)
>References: <[log in to unmask]>

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Hello all. In line with Ed Dente's comments and as a librarian who ended
up in this field, I thought you all might be interested in these
comments by a law professor (L. Ray Patterson) who developed the very
liberal copyright policy at the University of Georgia. This is an
excerpt:
        "University librarians are the last line of defense against the
                             efforts of publishers to sacrifice the
right of the people to know
                             on the altar of profit. This statement is
not as hyperbolic as it
                             may seem. The conduct of the publishers
indicates that their
                             goal is to do away with free lending
libraries, to transform
                             copyright into a pay-per-use right, that is
to make copyright the
                             basis for a use tax as well as a sales tax.
To succeed they must
                             co-opt librarians to be their licensing
agents. Unless librarians
                             refuse to be co-opted, the publishers will
succeed."

http://copyright.ala.org/

His basic argument is that fair use is a right, not an exception to
infringement; that once an item has been sold to the library it should
have to right to use it however it chooses.

"The 1976 Act divided the act of publication into two rights, the
                             right to copy (§ 106(1)) and the right to
distribute copies (§
                             106(3)). All copyright prior statutes gave
the copyright holder of
                             books only the right to "publish" them. By
dividing the
                             publication right into two steps. Congress
ostensibly made any
                             copying without permission an infringement.

                             The problem with this interpretation is
that it is almost surely
                             unconstitutional. It gives the copyright
holder control of the use
                             of a book that it has sold-the use
tax-which is contrary to the
                             learning purpose of copyright, and arguably
it makes copyright
                             a law regulating the press in violation of
the First Amendment."

Could language labs or university servers distributing digitized media
share the same umbrella as libraries? Could we take such a stance as
IALL? Sorry that this is long, Beth

Beth Secrist, Director
Language Resource Center
Dept. of Modern Foreign Langs. & Lits.
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN  37996
(865)974-6494; [log in to unmask]
http://web.utk.edu/~mfll/LRC/