Chapman University Copyright Workshop: Relevant Fair Use Issues for Law Firm Librarians
by Isa Lang
On March 10, the lawyer-librarians at Chapman Law School's Rinker Law Library attended an informative, university-sponsored workshop on using copyrighted materials in the classroom and elsewhere in the university. The workshop raised our awareness of copyright issues and offered us practical suggestions for coping with them. A significant copyright doctrine discussed in the workshop, the fair use exception to copyright, is relevant to law firm librarians as well.
violating copyright by duplicating and disseminating materials in a law firm may be equally as important as in an educational setting. For example, suppose that a lawyer in the firm is speaking to a group of senior citizens at his church and asks the library to copy a chapter in a firm-owned book on pension planning to distribute to them. Does the firm librarian need to warn the lawyer about a possible copyright violation? Should the librarian advise the lawyer to ask the copyright holder for permission to copy the chapter?
Copyright law protects the expression of an idea, as opposed to the idea itself, in any form of tangible media. The copyright holder is protected even though he does not register the copyright. (Registration enables him to sue if the copyright is violated.) He has the exclusive right to reproduce his work; to prepare derivative works, such as a screenplay adaptation; to make a "first sale" of the work to the public; or to perform or display the work i n public. In the above example, it might be wise for the lawyer to obtain permission from the copyright holder. The major law book publishers have information about obtaining copyright permission on their websites (for example, you can e-mail West for permission to reprint at copyright.west@thomson.com).
However, the "fair use doctrine" may permit copying and distributing the chapter to the senior citizens without permission if the seminar is free and in a non-profit setting such as a church. This doctrine looks to the purpose and character of the use, the amount of material distributed, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for purchasing the material. The last factor is a consideration any time copyrighted material is distributed for free.
Use of copyrighted material at a free seminar in a non-profit setting is "more likely" to be considered fair use than in a performance in any setting that charges admission. However, even if the seminar is offered for free, if our lawyer is using it to obtain more clients for his elder law practice, is the seminar really not-for-profit? To answer this question and others relating to fair use, the librarian should check the informative U.S. Copyright Office circular Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians at www,copyright.gov/circs/circ21.pdf.
The lawyer-librarians at Chapman University are fortunate to have an Office of Legal Affairs to proffer legal advice if we have a copyright question on "fair use.'Since there may be no place to turn for assistance in a law firm, librarians should be conscious of copyright law ramifications and should refer any attorney with a dubious copying request to the Copyright Office guidelines. For librarians with a general interest in copyright, I recommend an excellent online class taught by Lesley Ellen Harris, a copyright expert whose website is at http://copyrightlaws.com.
Isa Lang is Interim Director at Chapman University School of Law in Orange