Re: Fair-Use/Schmair-Use...

[Karl Bridges <karl.bridges@uvm.edu>]

For what it's worth, in my own scholarly writing and publications 
of articles and books, I presume that use (with proper 
attribution) of previously published materials in monographs of 
less than 70 words, except poetry and music lyrics which always 
require permission regardless of length of quote, falls under 
fair use.  That seems in keeping with what I've seen generally 
both in practice and discussion -- and my publisher raises no 
objection to this practice. I'd be interested if people generally 
agree with this or is there some other standard that should be 
applied???

Karl Bridges
University of Vermont

Charles Oppenheim wrote:

> "Fair dealing" in the UK ("Fair Use" in the USA) is one of a 
> number of exceptions to copyright that provides a defence 
> against an infringement action. In particular, in this context, 
> it is the defence that you were entitled to make and/or receive 
> a copy of a work for the purposes of non-commercial research or 
> private study without having to ask permission from the 
> copyright owner or pay the owner any fees. So if I were to e 
> mail Stevan to ask him to send me a copy of an article he had 
> written because I wanted it for my own non-commercial research 
> or private study, then if the copyright owner were to sue me 
> for infringement, I would say I was fair dealing, and if the 
> owner were to sue Stevan, he would say he supplied me a copy 
> because I needed it for fair dealing purposes.
>
> With respect, both Stevan and Peter are in part incorrect; 
> Peter, Stevan's use of the term "fair use" is perfectly 
> legitimate as what he is proposing is indeed an example of fair 
> use and there IS a legal basis for what Stevan would be doing; 
> and Stevan, you are wrong to say that fair use is an out of 
> date concept only applicable to print because in fact it 
> applies equally well to electronic copies.
>
>      [SH: Agreed. To the extent it is applicable, and needs no
> 	adapatation or update, Fair Use it is, and not "Schmair 
> 	Use"...]
>
> I agree with Peter that the term "archive" had a quite 
> different meaning well before OA came on the scene, and its use 
> by the OA community does therefore cause confusion.
>
>      [SH: I think "archive" too could have been adapted and
> 	updated, rather than requiring "repository" (which also 
> 	had a quite different meaning before either the online 
> 	medium or OA came on the scene). But "repository" is now
> 	widely used, and you can't fight with usage...]
>
> Professor Charles Oppenheim
> Head
> Department of Information Science
> Loughborough University
> Loughborough
> Leics LE11 3TU