David,

The use of photocopies of small amounts of copyrighted material from a book or journal for instructional purposes falls within what the law considers "fair use," and does not abuse copyright.  Most classroom use of photocopies adheres to this definition.  In cases where the material exceeds what is allowable by law, various methods exist to make students pay to use the material.

In case anyone is unclear on the concept, authors do not own copyright to their own materials in the majority of cases, and do not profit from these revenues.  It is the publishing companies that profit.

Recent lawsuits by publishing congolomerates are challenging fair use laws, and the outcome of these is yet to be determined.  But let's be clear on one thing: the long-term aim of publishing companies is to make all published material accessible only to paying customers.  This ultimately restricts knowledge and information, and is not in anyone's best interest except for the publishing moguls themselves.  That's why the American Folklore Society, among othe rlearned societies, has taken steps, through Open Folklore, to make as much pubished material free and accessible to everyone as possible, and to ensure that contributors to its flagship journal, Journal of American Folklore, will retain copyright to the works they publish in it, so they can also be made open access.

Best,

Sabina Magliocco
Professor
Department of Anthropology
California State University - Northridge
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________________________________________
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Mattichak [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, November 06, 2011 8:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Academic ebooks

Hi Pitch;

It occurs to me that for all of the years that teachers have been photocopying parts of books to share with a class that they have in fact been abusing someone's copyright. It is a difficult issue to decide who actually owns a book, even a hard copy. You may own the material that it is made from but someone else still owns the words that are written inside. So I think that the issue of compliance with copyright by the academic world is a bigger issue than just e-book use.

________________________________
Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2011 06:17:52 -0800
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Academic ebooks
To: [log in to unmask]

Aloha,

On 11/5/2011 10:41 AM, janet ifimust wrote:

Is that the case, if the ebook has been stored elsewhere?  Amazon can delete something from my kindle - but if I have managed to store it elsewhere, surely they would not be able to access it there?  On a pen drive, for example?


There are a range of possibilities here, depending on both
technical matters and an ereader user's willingness to go
beyond the letter of registration and warranty and digital
rights agreements.

Ereader--wireless--devices check in with their hosting servers
whenever they are able. Periodic check ins may even be required
for the ereader device to function easily in the hosting network
(that is, too long without a check in may lead to having to
reset the device and/or re-register back into the network).

So if the user wants to get ebooks from the edistributor,
the ereader has to stay more or less updated in the hosting
network. And the ereader device is reminded again and again
to search for files that are not supposed to be accessible by
the device. And get rid of them.

Edistributors cannot get at files user's store on separate chips
or drives. But users probably need to access those files with
ereaders intentionally set to an off-line status, if the files are
out of compliance with the edistributor's conditions in any manner.
And swap memory chips holding out of compliance files for
chips holding in compliance ones. Or take some other steps
to keep out of compliance files away from technical scrutiny.

Or users have to use other devices, like computers.

Reading and using the ebooks gets cumbersome. Users need
to swap chips in their ereader devices. Or switch among different
devices to access different (in compliance or out) files.

Ereader users who pay less attention to the strict requirements
of warranties, user registrations, and digital rights agreements
can, of course, find ways to use their devices in ways the
edistributors and authors and digital rights holders do not like.

Right now, I think that it's an open question how the academic
world looks at any out of compliance use or access of e-materials.
But I believe that, in cases involving physical printed materials, the
academic world upholds in compliance use and access.

Musing Users Have One Set of Needs & Expectations,
Workplaces, Authors, Publishers, & Distributors Have Others! Rose,

Pitch