copyright--pragmatic approach (3)

Thu Mar 10 04:48:04 UTC 2005

Dear Steven,

You are right about the theoretical discussion, but people do
need to know the law in order to know their limits in
operating within the law, or taking minor excursions outside
it. Copyright is being enforced more strictly now, it is
changing constantly, and it really is important to know what
is going on.

I agree with you that much of our activity remains under the
radar, because it is not commercial--no one is really
watching us, yet at least. That's a good thing. And I think
we need to exercise fair use as liberally as we can. But
there is good reason to understand the basics of copyright--
not all academic or educational use is fair use.

Furthermore, many questions arise from the academic community
involving use of material for publication, and publishers
tend to be less comfortable than scholars about taking risks.
And they often place the burden of copyright determinations
and permissions on the scholars.

Many other questions arise involving digitization projects
and distance learning--and without a basic understanding of
copyright, these endeavors can't even get off the ground.

The idea is not to tie people in knots about copyright, just
to elucidate some of the major points. But because it is law
we are talking about, it necessarily involves fine points and
nuances. Anyway, I do agree with what you write, and think
that we have to keep a balanced approach to all of this--but
we do have to distinguish between genies that have been let
out of their bottles and those that are still in them.

Sincerely,

Janice Pilch

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 23:52:50 -0600
>From: Steven Hill <s-hill4 at UIUC.EDU>
>Subject: [SEELANGS] copyright--pragmatic approach
>To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
>
>Dear colleagues:
>
>One gets the impression that much of the SEELANGS discussion
about copyright has
>been conducted on the theoretical level, like a group of
attorneys communicating
>with each other in a legal seminar.
>
>There's also the PRACTICAL side, of course.  As regards
publications, films, and
>other "products," that were created in the Russian
Federation (previously in the
>USSR), it seems likely that most such products do NOT have
very many eagle-eyed
>defenders (i.e., law firms) in the USA, zealously looking
out to protect those
>products from "encroachments" by impecunious little
academics like us, who might
>occasionally make modest non-commercial use of those
products. (We call it "fair
>use.")  If any such US law firms exist (hired by Russian
authors, publishers,
>distributors), they probably have much bigger fish to
fry.
>
>One might suspect that if a few Russian
authors/publishers/distributors have gone
>to the bother & are able to afford the expense (in US
dollars) of hiring US-based
>law firms to protect them, it would be to protect them
against COMMERCIAL
>encroachment, by great big US commercial publishers and
commercial film-video
>distributors.  That's a whole different world, which we poor
academics do not inhabit.
>
>In regard to film specifically, I am reminded of cases like
the famous "It's a
>Wonderful Life" (J. Stewart) and "Till the Clouds Roll By"
(R. Walker Sr.), two
>big, expensive US films that came  out appx. 1946-47, and
were copyrighted by big,
>legally-powerful studios based right here in the USA.  But
even in those zealously
>"protected" cases, the original studios through oversight
neglected to renew their
>copyright on its 28th anniversary (c. 1974-75), and both
films slipped into public
>domain.  Since then both "Wonderful" and "Clouds" seem to be
all over the place --
>many public-domain distributors have issued cheap copies and
sold 'em on film, on
>Beta, on VHS, you name it.  Look in the racks & bins of
cheap video copies in
>chain stores like Walgreen, Osco, etc.: "Wonderful"
& "Clouds" have lots of
>company, from the first "Farewell to Arms" & "Front Page"
through "My Man
>Godfrey," "Star is Born," & "Jungle Book" (Korda),
to "Spooks Run Wild" [i.e.,
>Bela Lugosi Meets the East Side Kids!] and "The Terror"
(Jack Nicholson). Even a
>few Russian films, such as "Potemkin" and "Ivan the
Terrible," seem to have turned
>up in the same ubiquitous category.
>
>One gets the impression, from a PRACTICAL point of view,
that once the genie is
>out of the bottle, putting it back is not so easy.
>
>Sincerely,
>Steven P. Hill,
>University of Illinois.
> __ _ __ __ __ __ __ _ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ __ __ __
_
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------
------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your
subscription
>  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web
Interface at:
>                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
>-------------------------------------------------------------
------------
----------------------------------------
Janice T. Pilch, Assistant Professor of Library Administration
Acting Head, Acquisitions, Slavic and East European Library
Librarian for South Slavic Studies and Slavic Languages & Literatures
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1408 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801
Tel. (217) 244-9399  E-mail: pilch at uiuc.edu

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------