----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I fully agree with Maryly that ARLIS should look beyond
CAA's suggestions when considering supporting changes in
copyright law.  Whatever merit these suggestions might
have -- and for artists and publishers their provisions
are helpful -- these CAA suggestions do not lie at the
heart of the controversy. ARLIS/NA would, I think, be
more effective in looking after the interests of its
clients, who include artists, by aligning itself with
the players more central to this debate.

DCS


-------------------
Deirdre C. Stam, SyraCWIS Coordinator
Syracuse University's Campus-Wide Information System [www.syr.edu]
Client Services/CMS, Machinery Hall, Room 222
Syracuse University, Syracuse NY 13244
[log in to unmask]
Phone 315-443-3831 or 3606
Fax   315-443-3817

On Mon, 15 Jul 1996, Maryly Snow wrote:

> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I am posting this email to ARLIS-L with permission of
> the author, Kathleen Cohen.  I heartily agree.
> Maryly Snow
> UCBerkeley
> [log in to unmask]
> >
> > RECOMMENDATION AGAINST CAA APPROVAL OF PROPOSED FAIR USE
> > GUIDELINES
> >
> > I do not see that the membership would benefit from CAA
> > approval of the Fair Use Guidelines at this time. The Guidelines
> > are not  law, and  the case law  regarding digital copyright is
> > still evolving. Final determination of a particular use is
> > dependent upon the courtUs analysis of the Fair Use factors, not
> > what is agreed upon by this document. It seems to me that we
> > gain little by approving the guidelines; instead we agree to
> > limitations that are not part of the law.
> >
> > The thrust of the Guidelines seems to be to put a time limit  on
> > Fair Use by stating that after a very short period of use of the
> > images that we digitize, we must obtain permission to continue
> > to use them. The four factors considered in Fair Use cases are
> > not time limited. The guidelines are a great help to the
> > publishers, but are of little help to educational institutions since
> > the limitations are severe and the proposed recommendations
> > for gaining permissions are as yet untested and probably
> > unworkable. We are being asked essentially to give up the
> > doctrine of Fair Use in exchange for a period of grace which
> > extends from 3 to 5 years in which the publishers agree not to
> > come after us for infringement.  Furthermore, two of the major
> > using for digital images,  educational multimedia projects and
> > distance learning,  are not addressed.
> >
> > If, after a short period of grace, we are to continue to use
> > images from our slide collections that we have scanned,  we
> > must obtain permissions. We are given a list of the things we
> > must do to establish that we have made the effort. Since few
> > institutions will  be able to procure the resources that must be
> > spent to obtain such rights, we are essentially giving up the idea
> > of digitizing our slide collections. (I recall  the numbers that
> > were given by one CD project : $200,000 for the rights and
> > $250,000 to obtain the rights.) In addition, many copyright
> > holders are reluctant to grant digital rights. If a licensing
> > scheme is to be developed for educational use of images, a great
> > deal of work needs to be done to make it accessible,
> > comprehensive and economically feasible. This may happen but
> > we should not count on it as a way to deal with most of the
> > slides currently in our collections that we may wish to digitize.
> >
> > The copyright law is currently under revision, and the Fair Use
> > exemptions currently included in the law  may become much
> > more restrictive or may even eliminated if the publishers have
> > their way.  But until that happens, letUs not give away the store,
> > so to speak. In all likelihood a fair use case involving digital
> > images will  wend its way to the Supreme Court,  and it might
> > even happen that the court will  decide that the digital
> > equivalent of the free public library should not be sacrificed to
> > the rights of publishers. In the meantime we have little to gain
> > and much to lose by agreeing to the Guidelines as they now
> > stand.
> >
> > Kathleen Cohen
> > School of Art and Design
> > San Jose State University
> > San Jose CA 95192
> > Phone 408 924-4359
>   [log in to unmask]
> >
>