Warning: A Copyright Policy Isn’t Enough!

IN MARCH 2006, Cornell University received a letter of complaint from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) “concerning alleged copyright violations.”* The letter, preliminary to a lawsuit, made it clear to the president and the provost of the university that a joint meeting might produce remedies to divert litigation.

For many years, Cornell had copyright guidelines posted and an active electronic reserves service. Cornell also had no less than three university policies that addressed copyright infringement issues, including Responsible Use of Electronic Communications, Code of Academic Integrity and Code of Conduct. In spite of this evidence of the administration’s support for the protection of intellectual property, the AAP felt compelled to question Cornell about its digital distribution practices.

Internet Interference

Since only “modern” printers read IPG, you are undoubtedly aware of your main competition. No, not major print chains—the Web. This was the source of the publishers’ complaints. The chances are excellent that if you can read an article on the Web, then you can e-mail it, cut and paste it, or download it for posting elsewhere. It is too easy. Even if you have a hard bound book, you need only a scanner to convert any number of pages to an electronic format for posting on your personal Web page.

If you are still wondering where your photocopying or course pack business has gone, some of it remains with the campus copy centers, provided by the loyal, law-abiding faculty members who prefer the traditional print course anthology. Some of the business has migrated to your library’s electronic course reserve service—especially since so many journals are providing access via electronic databases licensed through libraries and corporations. Still more has fallen off the radar screen—taken into the hands of individual instructors who post copyrighted works (not only their own) to course management systems and personal Web sites. Usually not condoned by the university’s administration, it is this unsupervised activity that seems most problematic for the publishers.

Does a climate of compliance on a campus make it any less vulnerable to a lawsuit? The publishers apparently don’t think so.

Colleges and universities without clear policies on acceptable uses of copyrighted materials have always felt more likely to be targets for copyright infringement lawsuits than their peer institutions with policies. However, in view of the Cornell outcome, good intentions of schools with posted policies will no longer deflect the scrutiny of book publishers determined to change higher educations’ behaviors toward the protection of intellectual property in the online realm.

The Cornell affair was resolved in less than six months without litigation, because the jointly written “Cornell Electronic Course Content Copyright Guidelines” was accepted by both Cornell University and the AAP. (See www.copyright.cornell.edu.)

As stated in a Copyright Clearance Center News Alert (CCC EXTRA, October 2006) the Association of American Publishers “is reviewing the copyright policies of a number of colleges and universities across the United States.” Forewarned is forearmed. Dust off those policies, sharpen your pencils, and contact your legal counsel. IPG

Rosemary Chase is the copyright officer for George Mason University. While staying abreast of new technology issues, copyright legislation, and their effects on educational fair use, she presents workshops on intellectual property issues, including cyber-plagiarism, file sharing and general copyright awareness at colleges and universities in the greater Washington, D.C. area and at conferences throughout the country. Rosemary has a B.A. in Art History and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from George Mason University. You can contact her at: rchase@gmu.edu

* CCC Publishers News: A Copyright Clearance Center Newsletter, “Cornell Publishers Set Copyright Guidelines for E-Content,” Fall 2006, p.1.