Chronicle of HE and Laura Gasaway on Georgia State case

["James J. O'Donnell" <jod@georgetown.edu>]

>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