RE: [Fwd: FW: IP and Copyright] by Charles

[Edward Barrow <edward@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think that Alan Greenspan's comments are to be welcomed, if as nothing 
else than a very belated recognition by financial regulators of the 
enormous importance of digital content in the economy. His point that there 
must be balance between creators and users is hardly new, but always bears 
repetition.

Now, to Ryan Charles' point. Every established business is threatened by 
change, and the change which threatens university presses the most is not 
any expansion of fair use but the wholesale switch to digital distribution 
of scholarly information. There isn't, yet, an established business model 
for the digital world to replace the one based on book sales and journal 
subscriptions which has done well since Gutenberg; though site licensing 
works well in certain environments. The change to digital, which (despite 
the hype of the last decade) has barely begun will, I suspect, be as 
important to world history as the printing press was - and this is what 
Greenspan has begun to realise.

University presses will have to adapt to the new environmnent if they are 
to survive; I doubt whether a dependence on permission fees is a viable 
long-term strategy. It may well be that in their present incarnation they 
are already something of an anachronism. The old university presses of 
Oxford and Cambridge were established when the commercial booksellers of 
London failed to meet the requirements of academia. I can see echoes of 
that, not in the activities of today's university presses but rather in 
projects such as Paul Ginsparg's arXiv.

In fact, I find the whole fair use argument rather depressing; librarians 
and publishers each argue with passionate conviction as a matter of great 
principle, but their positions are absolutely predictable from what either 
will gain. Far too much energy has already been wasted on the point, when 
what we should be doing is trying to make a system that works well for 
readers and writers, ignoring the vested interests of all the intermedia  
ries.

Edward Barrow
New Media Copyright Consultant
http://www.copyweb.co.uk/
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On Tuesday, April 15, 2003 4:09 PM, Olga Francois [SMTP:ofrancois@xxxxxxxx] 
wrote:

> How can I submit this to the listserv discussions?
> thanks, Ryan
>
> 	
> 	Mr. Crews,
> 	
> 	I just read your note regarding Mr. Greenspans comments.  Do you not
> 	agree that a broadening of fair use could possibly serve as the undoing
> 	of small presses (university presses in particular)?  I am new to the
> 	copyright arena, having studied both law and business I see the tough
> 	compromise that is necessary within the industry.  Having worked for a
> 	university press I have seen how vital permission fees are to the
> 	ongoing operations.  It amazes me to hear librarians and educators
> argue
> 	for more and more freedom to use copyrighted material.  To do so, in my
> 	opinion, would be the downfall of University Presses.  These are in
> fact
> 	the same presses that educators run to in order to increase their
> 	ranking among colleagues through publication.
> 	
> 	I believe that the royalty fees are a small price to pay for such a
> 	service.  Where do you feel I am wrong?  Thank you so much for the
> 	continued intellectual conversation regarding this topic.  I really
> 	appreciate hearing other viewpoits and I believe that in the end all
> 	parties will out happy if cooperation is increased
> 	between the parties.
> 	
> 	Sincerely,
> 	
> 	Ryan Charles
> 	'03 JD/MBA
>