Klarinet Archive - Posting 000115.txt from 2003/06

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Law - sense or senseless?
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 16:40:50 -0400

James Hobby wrote,
>The two instances that I said I do copy was (1) the little
>march-sized parts to 8.5 to 11. If I were not to copy this,
>it would not provide the sales of more music. If I can't see
>it, I can't play it, whether I have one or 100 copies of the part.
>It might result in less sales, since it woud be of no benefit to
>me, so why buy it, at all.

I'm not an attorney and I can't give legal advice. However, whether or not
*laws* make sense, as a matter of *common* sense, I think there's a huge
difference between someone copying music because s/he's too cheap to buy it
and someone else copying it in order to be able to read it. In the USA, if
someone legally purchases a score and then makes a copy in order to enlarge
the notes enough to be able to see them, and if the publisher for some
reason decides to hunt down that person and sue his socks off, I think it
might make a very interesting test case under the Americans with
Disabilities Act. I think that a publisher approached by a
partially-sighted person for permission to blow up a legally purchased copy
to larger size had better think seriously about giving permission,
double-pronto.

(I have a personal interest in this subject, since my father, legally blind
since childhood, uses a combination of contact lenses, thick glasses,
magnifying glasses and a scanner / copier to deal with various types of
reading material. During his many years as Chairman of the California
Governor's Committee for Employment of the Handicapped before he retired,
he helped draft the ADA. At age 80-something, he'd no doubt get busy
filing his teeth to sharp points, with enthusiasm, if somebody tried to
quote copyright law at him to take away his scanner.)

Somewhat preoccupied with law myself at the moment, since I'm on jury duty
this week and next....

Lelia Loban
E-mail: lelialoban@-----.net
Web site (original music scores as audio or print-out):
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/LeliaLoban

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