February 10, 2006
Custom Copies sued for copyright infringement
A story in today’s Alligator says that Gainesville copy shop Custom Copies is being sued by publishers for copyright infringement. See also articles in USA Today, Gainesville Sun.
The publishers allege Custom Copies didn’t pay royalties due to re-print certain articles for UF coursepacks. (A major chunk of the cost when buying coursepacks is royalty clearance for the content, usually coordinated through an intermediary like the Copyright Clearance Center.)
Custom Copies says they pay $175,000 in royalties a year since 2000. The alleged infringements were mistakes where an employee simply forgot to clear the copyright.
The damages for willful infringement can be up to $150,000 per infringement. Is that the right price to pay for a student employee’s forgetfulness in clearing copyrights for an educational coursepack?
They aren’t being sued for willful infrengement though are they? Not that it matters, it would still be thousands of dollars per copy.
The worst part about this is even though we pay royalties on coursepacks, we still can’t resell our completely legit copies the way we could resell real books. This is a complete scam.
It’s hard to tell from the articles exactly what they’re being sued for. My guess would be willful infringement: go for the home run, and if all else fails, settle out of court.
You’re right: for students, coursepacks suck. The student pays through the ear, mostly royalty costs (my coursepack for International Relations cost $70+). According to the first sale doctrine of copyright law, we have every right to resell that coursepack. But because professors update their coursepack, sometimes every semester, an old coursepack is worthless, and no one wants to buy one.