Re: Chronicle of HE and Laura Gasaway on Georgia State case

[Sandy Thatcher <sgt3@psu.edu>]

Lolly may well be right that this suit will end up with a 
settlement--as many have speculated that the Google suit will, 
too. But there are at least some publishers who would prefer to 
have this (as well as the Google suit) result in some useful 
legal precedent, since we have so few precedents existing to 
guide us in the arena of "fair use" in higher education.

P.S. I do not speak with any authoritative knowledge of the
preferences of the plaintiffs, I hasten to add.

Sandy Thatcher
Penn State University Press


> >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