Denise Troll Covey writes: “For three years Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Sage Publications have been working to undermine the fair use exception and safe harbor provisions in copyright law. Over the years they have expanded what started out as an inquiry into text-based electronic reserves at Georgia State University into a discussion of all media and all copying in higher education. Funded by the Copyright Clearance Center, the publishers want the court to render a decision and impose an injunction that would make the university liable for all acts of copying by faculty, students, and staff. The injunction would impose minimum guidelines for fair use copying developed in 1976 (when many resources were not copyright protected because they were not registered with the U.S. Copyright office) as the maximum fair use copying allowed by law. Furthermore the injunction would require the institution to strictly monitor all copying, document and pay the copyright owner for permissions granted, and provide the plaintiffs (Cambridge, Oxford, Sage) with access to the tracking systems … ” [more]
The Library Times 