Rockford plat maps

["Kim Laird" <klaird@michigan.gov>]

I thought this might be of interest to the liblicense participants & well
worth discussing.
 
Out of curiosity, I have already posted some of this information to
Acqnet, since I wondered how other libraries were dealing with this
situation. In ours, since we do not make copies of the maps, it was felt
it was up to the person using the material in the library, to take steps
to obtain the license. I do think the licensing program for the Rockford
Map publishers is rather broadly based and could be specified a little
more narrowly. So, for your information & possible interest:
 
The notes within the Rockford Map Publishers says on the inside front
cover, "Our licensing program allows you to make unlimited copies of our
maps.... " and on the next page has a Order Form/License application. On
the table of contents there's a copyright notice which says,
 
"NOTICE: All maps and other copy in this plat book are protected by the
copyright. No item in whole or in part in this plat book may be copied,
traced, reprinted, transmitted, transcribed, or stored in a retrieval
system, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic,
photographic, optical, manual, or in any other manner without prior
written permission from ROCKFORD MAP PUBLISHERS, Inc.
 
Any such violation will be prosecuted to the limit of the copyright laws.
 
This applies to ALL users of this book, as well as any printer,
photocopier or any other person making such copies or reproductions."
 
It finishes with address & contact information. The color insert in the
book says "Remember ... making copies of any of the ownership maps in this
book without a license is in violation of the US Copyright Laws, and is a
federal offense."
 
Some of the implications include whether libraries are required to buy a
license to cover all possible use of the Rockford maps, given the fact
that we can not determine how many potential users might make copies of a
map or two. Assuming that library staff do not typically make copies of
the plat books, it seems it would be up to the user of this publication to
obtain a license if they're making any copies.  Please note that we do not
actually have a copy of the license agreement in our hands, it actually
hase to be ordered for $100 for the first license for the first county &
thereafter $75 for other counties. Then it would be renewed every year.
One comment here was that this was likely targeting the larger commercial
entities.
 
 Kim Laird, Acquisitions & Periodicals Librarian,  Technical Services, 

Library of Michigan, Dept. of History, Arts, and Libraries, 
PO Box 30007,  Lansing, MI 48909 or 
717 West Allegan Street, Lansing, MI 48915  
klaird@michigan.gov   (FAX) 517-373-9438  or (Text phone only, TDD)
517-373-5866.    
Office  HOURS: 7:30a.m. - 4 p.m.  http://www.libraryofmichigan.org