Actually, instead of posting on a costuming list, what I'd recommend you
to do is this:
Go to the head of your department. Ask, "What are the departmental
and/or university copyright guidelines for my use of this kind of
material, in this manner, in my lectures? Please give me a copy of
printed guidelines. And if we don't have any, the university lawyers
should develop some. I want to do the right thing ethically, and other
instructors probably do too. We need the proper official and legal
guidance to help us."
Because, the university _should_ have such guidelines. The thing is:
When someone is sued, it is quite usual to name everyone possible in the
suit, but especially, the parties with deep pockets. The university
probably has deeper pockets as a business/organization, than you do as
an individual. So if you're an employee, both you and they are likely to
be sued if someone objects to any copyrights of theirs that you violate.
Thus the university has a strong vested interest in helping you do the
right thing.
Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that you are not a university
employee, but someone giving workshops for an organization like the SCA.
I am here going by what I know of California law, which may differ in
other states. Under California law, an employer does not have the same
responsibilities for an independent contractor that they do for an
employee. And if someone is named in a suit, and they are a peripheral
party, they do not necessarily have to stay in it; their lawyers devise
arguments as to why they should be allowed to withdraw, placing the
entire burden of the suit on the other party(ies) named. In other
words, in California at least, an employer sued along with an
independent contractor can cut themselves loose from the suit, placing
the entire burden on the contractor. (After some argument on the part of
the employer's lawyers in the many letters, hearings, etc. that occur
before the suit actually comes to trial, which can easily take about a
year.) If an employer or organization who is faced with spending a lot
of time and money defending themselves for a violation of law committed
by an independent contractor of his or own free will, can get out of the
situation by placing the entire legal burden on the contractor, they are
likely to do so.
Fran
Lavolta Press
http://www.lavoltapress.com
Sylvia Rognstad wrote:
So it sounds like I'm ok, since I work for an educational institution, huh?
Sylrog
On Oct 3, 2007, at 11:14 PM, Lavolta Press wrote:
Likewise, educational use legally applies to education that takes
place within educational institutions, and not to an individual
reading any book he or she may find informative (which after all
applies to every nonfiction work).
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