[ale] Fair Use question

Steve Litt slitt at troubleshooters.com
Sun Oct 9 16:25:12 EDT 2022


On Sun, 2022-10-09 at 15:51 -0400, Steve Litt via Ale wrote:
> On Sun, 2022-10-09 at 14:19 -0400, David Jackson via Ale wrote:
> > I'm taking a class at church that is using a $15 textbook.  There's also a
> > $15 workbook that the teacher is making xerox copies of the required pages
> > for each lesson for our classroom discussion.  I bought another copy from
> > the publishers that gives a copy of the text, workbook, and a year's online
> > access to both and also to educational movies for each lesson.
> 
> As I answer these questions, please keep in mind I'm not a lawyer and my opinions
> are not legal advice.
> 
> > 
> > 1. Is it Fair Use to the teacher to make xerox copies of the workbook each
> > week?
> 
> If you already paid for the book, I don't see why the teacher would bother. 

I think I misunderstood. I thought the OP was doing the photocopying for personal
use. If the teacher is doing the photocopying and passing them out to the students,
this is a dead bang copyright violation. This could result in a large lawsuit that
could bankrupt the church.

And then there's this: How dare a supposed person of God take money out of an
author's pocket by cheaping out on a $15.00 book? If a student says he can't afford
the $15.00, I'd ask the following questions:

1) Have you given up cigarettes?

2) Have you given up alcohol?

3) Do you go to restaurants less than once a month?

4) Have you switched from cable TV to rabbit ears?

5) Have you given up holiday and birthday gifts for everybody except  your juvenile
children?

If the answer to any of the preceding questions is "no", they can afford a lousy
fifteen bucks for a book.

One of the ways I feed and house myself and my wife, and formerly fed and housed our
three children, is by writing and selling books, so I'm a little sensitive about
this subject.

SteveT


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