[Web4lib] The paperless society? - article in today's NY Times

[Andrew]

Mark,

The "first sale" doctrine says that you can "sell or otherwise dispose" 
of a work. It doesn't say that you can make an electronic copy of the 
work, even if it's for your own personal use. There's nothing in the US 
law that explicitly grants you that right. It's another story in Australia:

http://www.mipi.com.au/proposed.htm

or New Zealand:

http://www.consumer.org.nz/topic.asp?category=Legal%20Rights&subcategory=Travel%20%26%20entertainment&docid=1800&topic=Copyright%20law&title=Your%20rights%20explained&contenttype=summary&bhcp=1

The couple of court cases in the US that have touched on this issue have 
left the impression that making electronic copies of music for personal 
use or backup is OK. But there's nothing written in law and I think you 
would be challenged to extend that argument to making an electronic copy 
of a printed book.

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI


Mark Sandford wrote:
> Why would that be a copyright violation?  It doesn't say he's making them
> available to anyone but himself.  If I can legally copy a song from a
> legally purchased CD to my MP3 player (and I can according to US law), why
> wouldn't I be allowed to scan a book and make it available to myself on my
> PC?
>
> Of course, I'm not as familiar with Canadian law, but my understanding is
> that it's not terribly different than US copyright as far as normal fair use
> goes.  Sadly, the abuse of contract law (via questionably legal licensing
> practices) has clouded the fact that the first sale doctrine says once you
> buy something, you can do what you want with it as long as you're not
> distributing copies.
>
>