Re: copyright

Some blog followers might be interested in a recent discussion-list post “Re: copyright” [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: PhysLrnR’s William Baraway wrote (paraphrasing): “I've pulled down a pdf of 'Toward a Theory of Teaching,' Educational Researcher 41(5): 147-156 and I think it is legal to share in this context. If there is interest, just let me know.”

To which PhysLrnR’s D.J. Wagner (DJW) responded (paraphrasing): “I can download pdfs from several journals, as may my students. However, according to our librarians, I cannot download a pdf to a network folder that I share with students.”

It think that DJW’s making pdf’s available to her students would be in accord with “Fair Use” of copyrighted material as provided for in Sections 107 and 108 of the US Copyright Law; see e.g., Cornell University Law School information for Sect. 107 at http://bit.ly/eNseEp and Sect. 108 at http://bit.ly/qyWm2Y.

In the latter it’s stated that (translating from legalise to English): “it is not an infringement of copyright for a library or archives to reproduce no more than one copy of a work, and to distribute such copy, provided the distribution is made without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage and includes a notice that the work is or may be protected by copyright.”

It should be noted that standardista-basher Susan Ohanian http://bit.ly/LPTI2p, Net-Gold's David Dillard http://yhoo.it/Ob44aC, and Math-Teach's indefatigable Jerry Becker http://bit.ly/OOwkNZ have all been distributing copyrighted material for years without substantive problems. Doubtless the verb “becker,” meaning “to distribute copyrighted material free of charge, consistent with ‘Fair Use’, ” will doubtless make it into Webster’s by 2020.
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To access the complete 9 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/LWmBtO.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
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REFERENCES [URL shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 17 July 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012. “Re: copyright” online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/LWmBtO. Post of 17 Jul 2012 09:34:35-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.