Klarinet Archive - Posting 000248.txt from 2009/02
From: Oliver Seely <oseely@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Fair Use
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:37:46 -0500
In reading the various posts on this subject and reflecting on
practices observed in groups to which I belong, it is clear that the
fair-use rules and organization guidelines are observed more in
breach than in practice. The Xerox Corporation is still doing pretty
good, I think.
I won't even go into a defense of the 3-ring binder owned by the guy
who sits next to me in one clarinet section of alphabetically
arranged PERSONAL copies of works to be practiced for performance
this season, but simply to suggest that there are the rules, then
there is what many people do.
It isn't a lot unlike the friendly diagnosis of your state of health
as regards the level of your cholesterol by friends and family,
recommending what you ought and ought not to eat. "Yeah, yeah," you
say. "You're absolutely right," then "Let's go out for a dinner of
marbled prime rib and buttered baked potato tonight."
A number of years ago I was given a copy of "Galileo, Heretic," which
I thought would be an interesting new spin on the scientist's house
arrest by the Pope. Not so. It was a thick tome of Catholic dogma
explaining in liturgical detail why Galileo suffered his fate before
the Inquisition. Theological scholars like to go on ad infinitum
about this kind of thing.
So I post this simply because no one else has yet come forth with,
"Buzz off. I'll continue to do what I'm doing, BUT with prudence,
cunning and guile, knowing what the Copyright Law says and making a
decision on how much I think I can get away with under the Fair Use
Doctrine and my own personal use." And, it is always better to be
prepared to ask forgiveness than permission, in my opinion. At least
three things I would never do: (1) sequence, print and put up for
sale on ebay something which is clearly not in the public domain; (2)
sequence and upload to a Web site, even one with a password, of such
a work; (3) upload a video of my performance with a group of any
piece clearly still under copyright. That's a recipe for big
trouble, in my opinion. If I worked in a for-profit nursery school
in Burbank, California (home of the Disney studios) I wouldn't put up
on the wall a poster of Mickey Mouse. Not at all good form.
One of my fundamental rules is to keep a low profile. Even this post
goes beyond what I feel comfortable in doing, mainly because of my
concern about the presence of scurrilous, bottom feeding copyright
moles on the list, but some of the posts are so aggressively
intimidating and recent changes in Copyright Law have gone so far
beyond the original intention in the U.S.of what Copyright Law was
originally supposed to represent that in my opinion some of these
contributors are begging for a response of contempt. (What does the
law say now? Death plus 75 years? What a crock!) I say simply,"You
may be right, possibly wrong, but thanks for not charging me for your
opinion and I'll continue doing what I'm doing, thank you very much."
I'll leave you with this amusing anecdote. When my Dad retired, he
started a little business of cutting 7-inch records (remember them?)
of folk and square dances for dance teachers if the particular pieces
were no longer commercially available. He had about 4000 individual
pieces he had copied to 1/4" tape and he told his clients that they
could have any two pieces cut on opposite sides of a record. From
time to time he'd get a request for 50 copies to which he politely
declined and replied that his copies were "emergency fair use copies
for non-profit educational use only." (Notice the phrasing). One
day he got a call from a folk dancer in Washington, D.C. (alarm bells
ought now to start ringing in your head) who asked for two particular
pieces on a 7-inch disk. The caller said in passing that his day job
was with the U.S. Copyright Office (I have a hard time believing that
he actually said that to Dad, but it is as I remember). I can
remember our conversation clearly. "Dad! You're being
framed. Don't even respond to this guy!" His response was, "Ah,
he's a fellow folk dancer and a really nice guy (!) and I told him
that all of the copies I make are 'emergency fair-use copies for
non-profit educational use only.' " So Dad made the copy and sent an
invoice for $6 with the record. I can only surmise what probably had
transpired. Some hot-headed owner of the copyright to one or both of
the pieces complained to the U.S. Copyright Office and they began an
investigation. When the copy arrived with a $6 invoice attached, the
attorney wrote to the IP owner and said, "Don't bother with this
guy. He's close enough to fair use not to make it worth your while
to pursue it." I don't know what the facts are, of course, but the
matter ended there.
When in doubt, copy! (and be prepared to ask forgiveness!) 8-)
Oliver
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