5.0538 Unpublishing & Copyright (4/92)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 17 Dec 1991 23:33:21 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0538. Tuesday, 17 Dec 1991.

(1) Date: 17 Dec 91 09:09:53 EST (18 lines)
From: Peter Conn <PCONN@PENNSAS.UPENN.EDU>
Subject: 5.0533 Unpublishing: A Copyright Story

(2) Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 09:26:26 EST (46 lines)
From: PAULA PRESLEY <AD15%NEMOMUS.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: 5.0533 Unpublishing: A Copyright Story

(3) Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 14:23:28 CST (8 lines)
From: ldavids@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Lloyd Davidson)
Subject: Re: 5.0533 Unpublishing: A Copyright Story (1/24)

(4) Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1991 14:56:14 -0600 (20 lines)
From: David Bantz <D-Bantz@uchicago.edu>
Subject: Re: 5.0533 Unpublishing: A Copyright Story

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 17 Dec 91 09:09:53 EST
From: Peter Conn <PCONN@PENNSAS.UPENN.EDU>
Subject: 5.0533 Unpublishing: A Copyright Story (1/24)

RE: Jim Cahalan's tale of "unpublishing" his own published work to avoid
permission fees. His experience may be post-modern, and even post-Maxwell, but
I doubt if it was in fact "post-legal." I would be surprised to learn that a
copyright holder can be deprived of those rights merely through a change in
the format of reproduction. The copyright covers the *content* of the text,
not merely one particular published version. So, if Professor Cahalan's
(unnamed) publishers wanted to pursue this matter -- which I assume they will
not, given the modest size of the dispute -- presumably they could.

Any comments, from the lawyers and/or clubhouse lawyers out there? (And what
is the source of the term "clubhouse lawyer" anyhow?)

Peter Conn
University of Pennsylvania
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------55----
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 09:26:26 EST
From: PAULA PRESLEY <AD15%NEMOMUS.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: 5.0533 Unpublishing: A Copyright Story (1/24)

I appreciated Jim Cahalan's tale of woe. It gives us yet
another example of why universities need to support the
publication of their own facultys' research. Nobody
gets rich publishing with academic presses... but neither
do they get gouged (especially for using their own
stuff!!!)
I applaud Jim for doing what he did; the alternative would
have been to gouge the student.
Paula Presley, Asst. Editor
Thomas Jefferson University Press
Northeast Missouri State Univ.
AD15@NEMOMUS.BITNET
> Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0533. Monday, 16 Dec 1991.
>
> Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1991 19:13 EST
> From: "NAME \"Jim_Cahalan\"" <JCAHALAN@IUP.BITNET>
> Subject: "unpublishing"/"depublishing"
>
> I just had a weird experience perhaps worth sharing with colleagues. I
> wanted to include one of my book chapters in a packet of readings for
> graduate students in my course next semester, but in the wake of the
> Kinko's ruling, my own publisher (which I won't name but will identify
> as owned by the late Robert Maxwell) informed me that the fee for
> reproducing this and one other chapter (in another book of mine they
> also published) would be $250. This was not their opening gambit, but
> came a week AFTER I beseeched them to be reasonable since it was my own
> work and I didn't want to see my students (to whom the copy service
> would immediately pass the fee) charged in this way. The best they
> could tell me was that if I waived MY part of the fee, then it would
> drop to $125. I replied that instead I'd copy my own typescript,
> avoiding extra fees for students. So today I "unpublished" or
> "depublished" the chapter, printing it out single-spaced in a microfront
> that is indeed small, but clear and readable, again the intent being to
> save my students money (I managed to print a dozen book pages onto five
> pages, notes included). What a weird experience: I had to "unpublish"
> my work in order to make it more easily accessible to students! How do
> you like that? Truly a postmodern, postlegal experience...
>
> Jim Cahalan, English Department BITNET: JCAHALAN@IUP
> 110B Leonard Hall,
> Indiana University of Pennsylvania
> Indiana, PA 15705-1094 Tel: (412) 357-2262
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------22----
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 14:23:28 CST
From: ldavids@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Lloyd Davidson)
Subject: Re: 5.0533 Unpublishing: A Copyright Story (1/24)

I am not sure she can do that legally. I think the publisher can still
claim copyright infringement.

L.
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------30----
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1991 14:56:14 -0600
From: David Bantz <D-Bantz@uchicago.edu>
Subject: Re: 5.0533 Unpublishing: A Copyright Story (1/24)

Jim Cahalan wrote:

>I wanted to include one of my book chapters in a packet of readings for
>graduate students in my course next semester, but...my own publisher
>...informed me that the fee for reproducing this...would be $250....I replied
>that instead I'd copy my own typescript, avoiding extra fees for students. So
>today I "unpublished" or "depublished" the chapter

I don't understand. If you gave away copyright for this material to the
publisher, I should think you have no more right to copy the typescript
than the printed version. If you did not assign the copyright to the
publisher, you should be able to copy either, and the request for payment
to the publisher is inappropriate.