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arl-ereserve: Legal Advice on Copyright Compliance

arl-ereserve: Legal Advice on Copyright Compliance

Legal Advice on Copyright Compliance

Arlene R. Quaratiello (arqinfo@shore.net)
Thu, 17 Jul 1997 18:06:54 -0400 

Message-Id: <33CE977E.44F3@shore.net>
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 18:06:54 -0400
From: "Arlene R. Quaratiello" <arqinfo@shore.net>
To: arl-ereserve@cni.org
Subject: Legal Advice on Copyright Compliance


For all of you who are finding the subject of copyright compliance as
confusing as I am, especially with the emergence of new media, I wanted
to suggest a book I recently read.  It's "Technology and Copyright Law"
by Arlene Bielefield and Lawrence Cheeseman (ISBN 1-55570-267-8)
published by Neal-Schuman, and I recommend it highly.   In it, the
authors explain how to practice what they call"defensive law" (i.e.,
preventing problems before they happen).  

I found the book to be very easy to understand; it certainly helped me
to feel more confident about an intimidating subject.  Although its
focus is on new technology and its implications on copyright, there is
also plenty of information on the history of the law that we still need
to be familiar with.  There are sections which clearly explain the
"letter of the law" analyzing hard-to-understand legal-ese.  And there
are lots of examples of actual cases.  The checklists are particularly
helpful; for instance, there's a checklist that helps you to determine
very simply if a work is in the "public domain."  There's discussion of
such topics as classroom use of off-air videotapes, electronic library
reserves, and the use of various media in distance learning.

Hope this book helps all of you who are dealing with thorny and irksome
copyright issues to avoid the expense of lawsuits that none of us in the
non-profit sector have the time or money for.  

By the way, Neal-Schuman now has a Web site http://www.neal-schuman.com
where you can search a "virtual catalog" and even order book online. 

Arlene Quaratiello
<arqinfo@shore.net>

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