RE: Copyright and reserves and music cds

["John T. Mitchell" <John@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Elisabeth Leonard [mailto:leonarea@xxxxxxx] writes:

>  I have just received the following question from a faculty member.
>  
>  "In the fall of 2002, I placed several CDs from my own personal 
>  collection on reserve for my students. The required listening
included 
>  only one or two selections/songs from each CD.
>  
>  For this upcoming semester, I'm interested in making one CD which
will 
>  contain all thirteen selections from my collection of nine CDs and in

>  placing this CD on reserve. This process would ensure that my
personal 
>  CDs would not be harmed, that I would have easier access to the CDs
for 
>  in-class playings and my own class preparations, and - most
importantly 
>  - that students would not be able to copy the entire original CDs
onto 
>  their computers. As well, the library will only have to process one 
>  personal CD (I will also be placing several music library CDs on
reserve.)"

She asks:
  
>  Would this copy be legal?  
According to Section 1008, it would be legal (or at least immune from
prosecution) if it is a non-commercial reproduction made onto an audio
recording medium or using an audio recording device.  See
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/1008.html.  (Some key terms are
deinfed at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/1001.html.)

>  Is this legal because it is only a song from each cd or is this
illegal because it is creating an anthology?  
Each song on the CD is a separate copyrighted work, so copying "only"
one song does not change the fact that an unauthorized reproduction was
made.  In like manner, Section 1008 is blind to how many noncommercial
reproductions (musical recordings) are made onto any one audio recording
medium.

>  How about the fact that it is the same material in 2 semesters?  
I don't see the relevance of how long the reproduction lasts.

>  If each song was placed on a separate cd would it be legal?
Under Section 1008, it matters not whether only one work is reproduced
onto any one audio recording medium or several.

It warrants noting that listening to a song is never infringing, nor is
performing a song (e.g. playing a CD) privately ever infringing.  Thus,
whether the students are playing (privately) the song from the original
CD, a compilation CD or even an infringing reproduction does not make
their actions infringing.  The question is not from what reproductions
the students privately perform the songs, but whether the reproductions
themselves are infringing and, if so, whether they fall within the
protection of Section 1008 (since the copyright holders ostensibly share
in the proceeds of a tax on blank media and digital audio recording
devices to comensate for the revenue lost from the sale of their own
reproductions).

John
___________________
John T. Mitchell
http://interactionlaw.com