Jim Smith (owner of the Michigan Document Service MDS) is the
defendant in an important legal case involving copyright. Several
H-Net lists have discussed the issue, and the opinion of our
subscribers is split pro-and-con. Smith's MDS prepared
"coursepacks" comprising excerpts from copyrighted books selected
by professors, and sold the coursepacks to students. MDS did not
ask permission or pay royalties. Several publishers sued and won
in the district (lower) federal court.
However, in February a 3-judge panel of the US 6th Circuit Court
of Appeals reversed the lower court and upheld MDS. It stated
that the "coursepacks" did NOT violate the fair use provisions of
copyright laws. The panel said that professors have a "fair use"
right to make multiple copies for classroom use, and that having
a commercial firm handle the copying did not undermine that
right. The publishers appealed, and now the entire 6th Court (16
judges) has agreed to rehear the case (probably in early 1997).
Smith is seeking help from faculty members who are members of
The Author's Guild, Inc.
The Text and Academic Authors Association, Inc.
The American Society of Journalists and Authors, Inc.
H-Net has not been asked for help by the publishers/plaintiffs.
H-Net of course is not the forum for plaintiffs and defendants to
discuss their lawsuits. This particular case, however, is of
critical interest to many teachers, and we need to keep our
subscribers abreast of developments. Smith is not a scholar and
his interest in the case is primarily his own private financial
benefit. Therefore if you wish to help Smith or obtain further
information from his viewpoint, please do not write H-Net lists
but instead contact Smith directly at <michdoc@provide.net>
Richard Jensen
H-Net Executive Director