 |
January
24, 2006
Judge rules against
newspaper in potentially precedent-setting copyright infringement case
©Katharine
Farmer
Christopher R. Harris |
SAN JOSE, Calif., January
2, 2006 --- Northern District of California Judge Charles Breyer denied
a motion for summary judgment by the (San Jose) Mercury News
in round two of a potentially precedent-setting copyright infringement
case brought against the newspaper by photographer (and TAA member) Christopher
R. Harris, who claims the newspaper published a photograph of his alongside
a book review without his consent.
In its motion,
the newspaper introduced evidence that its practice of accompanying
book reviews with copyrighted photographs taken from the inside of the
book being reviewed was a common practice at other metropolitan newspapers
throughout the country, and that the practice was legal under the "fair
use" defense.
Judge Breyer ruled
that no one could successfully claim "fair use" if the claim contained
copying copyrighted photographs. The exclusive rights to those copyrighted
photographs resides with the copyright holder, he said, which is in
most cases the photographer.
Harris, a professor
in the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University,
in Murfreesboro, Tennessee filed suit on December 10, 2004 after he
discovered that a photo of Southern author Walker Percy, that he had
shot originally while on assignment for Esquire Magazine, was
used in a book review by the Mercury News.
Harris said that
he had never been contacted by the Mercury News for rights to
use the image, and was never paid for any such use. Additionally, the
Mercury News had removed his copyright notice from his photo
credit when they published the "pirated" photo, thus possibly violating
a legal requirement under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of the
Federal Copyright statutes.
Harris, who still
leases stock photos from his collection of images shot over a 25-year
career, derives part of his income from such leases. Harris is well
known for his long-term work with the New York Times, TIME,
Newsweek and other national and international publications. He
was one of the first photographers to work with GAMMA/Liaison photo
agency, with offices in New York and Paris. Due to the agency's international
scope of representation, the distribution of his many stories, and assignments
by GAMMA/Liaison led to his work appearing in literally hundreds of
publications worldwide. Confronted with the legal dilemma of someone
"pirating" his work, Harris hired the Silicon Valley law firm Tech &
Trial Law Group. Robert Spanner and Susan Kalra, known experts in intellectual
property, were his attorneys in this suit.
According to Spanner,
lead counsel for the plaintiff, "a photographer's right to limit distribution
and reproduction of his or her copyrighted photographs is a fundamental
tenet of copyright law, and the notion that a newspaper can override
that right and freely reproduce and distribute - without a license and
for free - photographs which the photographer had licensed to a book
publisher for a fee, would obviously be a matter of grave concern to
the photographers' profession. Mr. Harris stood up for the rights of
his fellow photographers because he believed it was the right thing
to do, and we are gratified that his efforts have been vindicated."
At a hearing on the case on May 27, 2005, Breyer said that this case
could be an important one regarding author/photographer rights: "....what
is at stake here is the principle of whether a newspaper writer can
take a photograph from a book and publish it without permission of the
copyright holder."
The case has been scheduled
for a trial setting before Judge Breyer on January 20, 2006 at 8:30 a.m.
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Former TAA President's
Letter to the Editor Published in The Chronicle Review
Former TAA President
Mike Sullivan's letter to the editor in response to Michael H. Granof's
article, "A New Model for Textbook Pricing" (The Chronicle Review, November
26, 2005), was published in January 14, 2006 issue of "The Chronicle
of Higher Education's The Chronicle Review."
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CCC To Hold Conference
Call on Publishing Law
Several recent developments
have the potential to reshape traditional claims by rightsholders to
their works, particularly on campus and in research facilities. Copyright
Clearance Center is holding a free Beyond the Book conference call discussion
on Thursday, February 9, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time with Howard Zaharoff,
a noted attorney who has written successful on publishing law issues
for Writer's Digest and who often represents academics, educational
institutions and others on a wide range of legal matters. Space for
this program is limited -- only the first 50 registrants will be accepted.
Register online at http://www.copyright.com/Authors/BTBInvite.asp
, e-mail BeyondtheBook@copyright.com,
or call toll-free at 1-800-982-3887 ext. 2420. Include your name and
e-mail address. Registrants will receive e-mail confirmation with instructions
on dialing in.
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TAA Texty, McGuffey
winners among accessible texts
Robert Martinengo,
a TAA member and co-founder of the Center for Accessible Publishing,
an advocacy organization for nonprint readers, recently pointed out
several TAA Texty and McGuffey textbooks that are available in audio
and electronic formats, making them accessible for persons with disabilities.
They include:
- Labor Relations:
Striking a Balance, 1st edition, by John Budd, published by McGraw-Hill.
- Elemental
Geosystems, 4th edition, by Robert Christopherson, published by
Pearson Education/ Prentice Hall
- Prentice Hall
Chemistry, 7th edition, by Antony Wilbraham, Michael Matta, Dennis
Staley, and Edward Waterman, published by Pearson Education/ Prentice
Hall
- Microsoft
Office 2003 Introductory Course, 6th edition, by William R. Pasewark,
Sr., Scott Pasewark, William R. Pasewark, Jr., Carolyn Pasewark Denny,
Jan Pasewark Stogner, and Beth Pasewark Wadsworth, published by Thomson
Course Technology
- Introduction
to Geography: People, Places and Environment, 3rd edition, byEdward
Bergman, and William Renwick, published by Pearson Education/Prentice
Hall
- World Regions
in Global Context: People, Places and Environment, 2nd edition,
by Sallie Marston, Paul Knox and Diana Liverman, published by Pearson
Education/Prentice Hall
- Personal Fitness:
Looking Good Feeling Good, 5th edition by Charles Williams, Manny
Harageones, Dewayne Johnson and Charles Smith, published by Kendall/Hunt
Publishing Company
- Asking About
Life, 3rd edition, by Jennie Dusheck and Allan Tobin, published
by Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole
- Discrete Mathematics
with Applications, 3rd edition, by Susanna Epp, published by Brooks/Cole
- Organizations:
Behavior, Structure, Processes, 10th edition, by John (Jack) M.
Ivancevich, Robert Konopaske, James Donnelly and James L. Gibson (11th
edition won the McGuffey), published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin
- The Atmosphere:
An Introduction to Meteorology, 9th edition, Fred Lutgens and
Ed Tarbuck, published by Pearson Education/ Prentice Hall
- Business Data
Communications, 4th edition (5th edition won the McGuffey), by
William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall
- Essentials
of Business Communication, 6th edition, by Dr. Mary Ellen Guffey,
published by South-Western/Thomson
The second edition
of TAA President Richard T. Hull's Ethical Issues in the New Reproductive
Technologies is also available in digital format. "There are
various downloadable readers that would render it into an audio book,"
he said.
Is your book available
in audio or electronic format? Let us know -- please share the titles
of any books you have available in accessible formats: kmpawlak@centurytel.net
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2006
TAA Convention to be Held at Disney's Grosvenor Resort
The 2006 TAA Convention
will be held at the Grosvenor Resort in the Walt Disney World Resort
in Orlando, Florida, July 7-8. Hotel rates for convention attendees
are $99 per night (which includes a $9 resort fee; parking included).
This elegant hotel is on the trolley line and is within the Disney Resort.
Convention registration is $75 for members before May 1, $125 after;
registration for non-members is $125 before May 1, $175 after. Non-member
registration includes a one-year membership to TAA. The Awards Banquet
dinner, held Friday, July 7, is optional, and is an additional $45 per
person. To make a reservation at the Grosvenor Resort, call 1-800-624-4109.
Learn more about the Grosvenor Resort at http://www.grosvenorresort.com
To register for the convention contact Janet Tucker, TAA's Managing
Director, at (727) 563-0020 or register online using TAA's secure server
here.
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TAA newsletter
archive now online
A PDF archive of
TAA member newsletters, TAA Report and The Academic Author,
dating back to the summer of 1987, is now online in the TAA Members-Only
Member Center. The archive lists a table of contents for each issue.
Click
here to view the archive in the Members Only section
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New Form Allows
Online Donations to TAA Foundation
TAA has made it
easier than ever to make a donation to the TAA Foundation by creating
a secure online donation form. The form is accessible through the TAA
Foundation page, the TAA Notes page and the online new member/renewal
form. To make an online donation to the TAA Foundation, click
here. Your donation to the TAA Foundation will be matched $1 for
$1 by a $15,000 matching grant from TAA.
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Renew Your Membership
Online!
TAA has just launched
a new online member form that will allow members to renew online using
a secure server. The form can also be used by new members. Check it
out in the TAA Member Center here.
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