ADS-L Digest - 30 Oct 2006 to 31 Oct 2006 (#2006-304)

[Geoff Nathan]

Dennis Baron wrote:

> Is there anyone on the list who knows more about the issue? Because
> if the law isn't an obstacle (even if it is an ass) then I'd
> certainly like to pursue this.
Yes, I'm afraid I'm quite versed in copyright law and teaching because
it's part of my job (see sig.).  The 'fair use' issue is murky, and the
'entertainment' industry thinks fair use is a scam for ripping off
artists (or them).  Fair use online has not seriously been tested in
court, but the principle is that you can only reproduce part of a work,
only once or twice, and not for a long period of time.  Of course, in
the context of cartoons that doesn't make much sense.
Alternatively, under the (relatively) recently passed TEACH Act, you can
post digitized material (provided it's not already available in digital
form) without getting copyright permission, if it's only available to
registered students and only for the duration of the course (whatever
that means).  That hasn't been tested in court.
So the short answer to Dennis, Arnold and others (I get this in digest
form and Thunderbird makes it hard to reply to selected posts) is that
it's probably not legal to create an open archive of useful cartoons
without seeking copyright clearance.

So, first, I am not a lawyer, and your university counsel might say
differently

Second, it's unlikely that anybody would notice, and the worst that
would happen is that your CIO or President/Chancellor/whatever would get
a letter asking you to take it down.  But I think the 'entertainment'
industry has bigger fish to fry.
Note that, since I'm not a lawyer, I don't think I can get into trouble
advising that you ignore the law.

Geoff

--
Geoffrey S. Nathan
Department of English/Computing and Information Technology
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI, 48202
<geoffnathan at wayne.edu>
Phones:  C&IT (313) 577-1259/English (313) 577-8621

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