--- Forwarded Message from Lynne Crandall <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 10:10:39 -0500
>From: Lynne Crandall <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: #6542 Houghton Mifflin licensing agreeemnt
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
------------------
I agree wholeheartedly Read! Use it or lose it has long been the motto
associated with fair use. Just apply the doctrine of fair use consistently
and wisely. Read, you've spurred me on here somehow, so I have to
continue! I'm not a lawyer, no legal training, not legal advice--just my
thoughts on the subject follow.
Copyright law was originally designed to promote the advancement of the
useful arts and sciences. The logic is that if a creator can receive
compensation and support for his/her endeavors, then this will spur
creativity and production, and thus improve and increase the knowledge and
artifacts of our society. The balance is that in order to grow, to build
upon prior knowledge, to extend and re-examine knowledge, we must refer to,
share and adapt past works. Thus the creator's rights were supposed to be
limited so the public's need to know could be served. The last half
century has seen significant legislative erosion of the public's need and
right to know via the excessive extension of term limits. [note--the
Supreme Court has agreed to consider the constitutionality of the Sonny
Bono Copyright Term Extension Act!]
Regardless of what a creator/distributor wants to say about the use of
their material, their statements or assertions do not supercede the law.
In the mid-80's people were concerned because most videotapes came with a
label that said they were for private, home use only. Ok. If you never
read the law and didn't know about fair use or the face-to-face exemption,
that might rattle the hopeful user a bit. But in the context of delivering
instruction at a non-profit educational institution, that tape is a legal
tool for serving up content, regardless of what was on the label.
Now comes fair use: "As such, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching
(including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research is
not an infringement of copyright if the use meets the test of four factors"
1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of
a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
--is the use educational in nature? is it part of the regular
instructional activities of the institution? are students accountable in
some way?
2) The nature of the copyrighted work
--facts or artistic in nature? This doesn't mean we can't ever use
artistic works, but that we must be even more sure of the validity of our
"fair" use
3) amount of the work one wants to use (a complete copy, a significant
portion, a small part), the substantiality of the portion used in relation
to the copyrighted work as a whole (does the portion used convey the
essence of the original work)
--the less used the better the fair use claim.
4) effect of the use upon the potential market
--this is the tough one. It's not just the present market, but the
possible market value of the work. Is the student's use of the material
going to replace their need to purchase it? Or would they have other
no-cost options to use the material in the same way?
Other related issues to consider is who is the target audience? The world
on the web? Or only registered students a secure class website? How
often, or how long will you do this? Is appropriate citation given?
We need to protect our use of society's knowledge, or we are in danger of
becoming ignorant, destined to recreate the wheel every decade or so. The
balance between creator and user must in fact be a balance! We must
believe in our hearts that the use is a fair one and not only want it to be
a free one. And then our interpretations must be consistent with our
actions!
--Lynne (off the soapbox!)
--On Thursday, February 21, 2002 12:00 AM -0500 Automatic digest processor
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 08:50:05 -0600
> >From: "Read Gilgen" <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: Re: #6542 Houghton Mifflin licensing agreeemnt
>
> ------------------
> Without knowing the details of the H-M policy... I'll still offer an
> opinion <grin>... Just because someone says that our use of materials is
> illegal doesn't make it so. If we don't exercise our fair use rights,
> we'll inevitably lose them. It seems on the surface of it that you're
> meeting the requirements of fair use.
>
> I'm not a lawyer, nor can my comments be taken for anything more than an
> opinion. But I'm troubled by what seems to be an increasing number of
> attempts to abrogate our fair use rights.
>
> >>> [log in to unmask] 02/19/02 03:51PM >>>
> --- Forwarded Message from "Rachel E. Saury"
> <[log in to unmask]> ---
>
> >Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 09:38:03 -0500
> >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
> <[log in to unmask]> >From: "Rachel E. Saury"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: Houghton Mifflin licensing agreeemnt
> >In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
>
> ------------------
> Dear friends,
>
> I hope this finds all my IALL colleagues well these days! I haven't been
> in circulation much in the past year, but think of you often!
>
> I'm writing to ask for other people's opinions about and experiences with
> Houghton Mifflin when negotiating licensing agreements for audio
> materials. Our Japanese program uses Nakama, by Makino et al. We have
> recently received a notice from them that we are not allowed to
> disseminate Nakama materials outside of the language laboratory AND that
> we cannot alter the materials in any way.
>
> We find their policy draconian and counter to Educational Fair Use. Our
> first year Japanese instructor, for instance, would like to be able to
> use small segments of the audio materials in the Divace (Tandberg) AACC
> format. This means that she takes small sound bites from the audio
> materials and puts them into a ready-made template available with the
> Divace that enables students to record themselves, to hear their
> recording and to be forced to hear the master recording a second time.
>
> Further, we are moving towards web-based access for as much of our audio
> materials as possible. This will be accomplished through a course
> administration tool called Mallard. All materials will be password
> protected.
--------------------------------------------------
Lynne Crandall
University of Michigan Language Resource Center
812 E.Washington Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1275
VOICE 734-647-0762
FAX 734-764-3521
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