CURRENT COPYRIGHT DEVELOPMENTS?

[Kathy Webster <kwebster@TENET.EDU>]

I asked last week about copyright case violations and received a lot of
help from the list.  Another development--
I was going to present a short program to the faculty on copyright.  I
dutifully made a list of the guidelines which have been around for a
while (fair use, spontaneity, brevity, cumulative effect, etc.)  One of
our faculty, whose husband is a lawyer, was asked to do it instead of
me.  She came up with information (from her husband) who said these
guidelines are really not the law and there is a case pending in, I
believe, 6th Circuit court of appeals.  The verdict is due Sep. or Oct.
She said the result would be that more emphasis would be placed on intent
rather than any type of "10%" rule or certain number of words.  She also
said, according to her husband, that if a person brings a "home use"
video to a class spontaneously and it is not part of a planned
curriculum, it is fine to show it.

Any input from you all would be appreciated!!

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* Kathy Webster                 *
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