Re: Interview-transcribing

[radlein!ray@uunet.UU.NET (Ray Radlein)]

In a message of <3 Nov 89 07:31:34 GMT>, Sharon Fisher writes:

> >> Perhaps it's because I'm a writer by trade, but I find this wholesale
> >> copying of published material disturbing.  It's illegal.  It's
> >> unethical. You guys are setting yourself up for some nasty copyright
> >> violation suits.
> >
> >I should think that this falls fairly solidly under the heading of "Fair
> >Use"; Love-Hounds is, after all, an organization dedicated to the
> >scholarly and critical analysis of Kate Bush, her music, and its
> >interaction with society. Therefore, the non-profit reproduction and
> >distribution of this material within the confines of rec.music.gaffa and
> >the love-hounds mailing list is (in my opinion, at least) protected
> >under Fair Use statutes.
>
> That is not what fair use means.  It means that you can quote a couple of
> lines of something and the owner of the copyright won't get upset about
> it. It has little to do with the actual purpose of the quotation.

Fair Use has *everything* to do with the actual purpose of the quotation,
and very little to do with the length of the quotation. I have seen Fair
Use cover chapters-long excerpts on several occasions, and I have seen it
cover the reproduction or quoting of *entire* works even more often. As
long as the *purpose* of the citation is academic or critical, and no
profit is being made on the transcription itself, then Fair Use is in
force.

An example: A professor wishes to include a question on a Final Exam about
self-responsibility, as reflected in Poe's "The Imp of the Perverse." Since
the story is not in the class textbook (or perhaps the professor doesn't
want an open-book exam), he photocopies the story from out of another book,
and passes it out with the exam. This is perfectly covered by Fair Use.

Similarly, if I were to go over to rec.arts.poetry and post, as part of a
discussion on "Language and Meaning," Mark Strand's "Eating Poetry," my
action would, beyond the shadow of a doubt, be covered by Fair Use.

                                        -Ray R.



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