>From the issue dated May 16, 2008
LINKED IN WITH...
Laura N. Gassaway, a copyright expert who is monitoring a
lawsuit
brought by publishers challenging a university's practice of
putting material on electronic reserve.
How a lawsuit over electronic reserves could affect
colleges
By ANDREA L. FOSTER
Ms. Gassaway, associate dean for academic affairs and a
professor
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of
Law,
says that a lawsuit recently filed against Georgia State
University regarding electronic reserves could have
implications
for how colleges distribute course material online. The
suit,
brought by three publishers -- Oxford University Press,
Cambridge
University Press, and SAGE Publications -- alleges that
Georgia
State professors infringed publishers' copyrights by
"inviting
students" to download, view, and print material from
thousands of
copyrighted works. Ms. Gassaway's remarks assume the details
of
Georgia State's practices, as described in the complaint,
are
accurate.
Q. Is Georgia State's use of electronic course material
different
from other institutions?
A. If you have a continuum where on one side are
institutions
that always seek permission before putting things on
electronic
reserve and on the other side are institutions that never
seek
permission, Georgia State appears to be on that far end of
almost
never seeking permission. My belief is that more libraries
fall
somewhere in the middle. They certainly believe that some of
the
material they put on electronic reserve can be disseminated
under
fair use. But they believe they need to get permission and
pay
royalties to use other material.
Q. Are there other reasons the publishers sued Georgia
State?
A. The publishers may have been interested in showing that
state-supported institutions are not immune from litigation.
State-supported entities can't be sued for damages. And the
publishers in this case did not seek damages. They asked
only for
an injunction.
Q. Is this lawsuit a warning from publishers to other
institutions that they'll be sued, too, unless they
negotiate
with publishers about their use of e-reserves?
A. One could certainly take it that way. Several other
institutions, once they got cease-and-desist letters from
publishers about their use of online course material,
developed
policies and began to pay royalties.
Q. What's your best guess of how this case will be
resolved?
A. It will settle.
Q. What would such a settlement look like?
A. Georgia State could be required to adopt certain policies
in
order for the publishers to drop their litigation. What
other
institutions have done is to develop and publicize policies
and
remind their faculty about them.
copyright 2008 Chronicle of Higher Education
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