content and copyright

[King_Cecil]

so I went to the local kinkos today to make some copies of my freshest clips and I had to ask one of the customer service people a question. After she answered my question, she noticed the articles in my hand and said "but you can't copy those, that's copyright infringement." Huh? I told her I was the author of the articles so it was my copy and she said it didn't matter that I needed written consent from the publisher.

Now, I studied some communications law while I was in school, but we barely touched upon copyright laws. I'm not saying it's not a law or anything, but seriously this seems a little ridiculous, doesn't it? I've gone to same place many times before and copied articles right in front of other customer service people who never said a word.

So what do I do? I have no problem occaisonally asking my publisher for consent to copy an article, but it seems like a ridiculous process and there also times, you know, when maybe I would prefer if I was the only person who knew I was making copies of clips. Does anybody else abide by these rules or do you guys just go make copies when nobody's gonna bug you about it? What do I do?

 

[buckweaver]

I had this happen once at a Kinko's. Infuriated the hell out of me. I brought in my business card and showed them proof of employment. That wasn't enough to satisfy the first clerk, but I sweet-talked the second one into letting me have the copies made.

I was very disappointed in their service.

Only advice I can give you is to find a local printer and get it done there. Shouldn't make too much difference in the cost, and the service is (in my experience) infinitely better.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

"Yeah, you may own the tapes, but the magic that is on those tapes? WE own that!"

 

[Clever username]

Isn't your Kinkos do-it-yourself? Go to Staples if not.

 

[swenk]

Some years ago, there was a big lawsuit involving Kinko's and a group of publishers, the latter claiming (successfully) that Kinko's had copied portions of textbooks, repackaged them into some sort of educational program, and claimed fair use. Kinko's lost.....which might explain the refusal to copy your clips.

But this is wrong:

I told her I was the author of the articles so it was my copy.....

You may be the author, but you don't own the copy, if you wrote it for your newspaper.

 

[buckweaver]

But this is wrong:

I told her I was the author of the articles so it was my copy.....

You may be the author, but you don't own the copy, if you wrote it for your newspaper.

Very good point. The newspaper does own the copyright (although I do feel like you shouldn't be given a hassle if you want to make copies of your own damn stuff.)

 

[tyler durden 71351]

Kinko's pulled the same crap on me too. Office Depot will make copies for you...or they would two-three years ago.

 

[User 6659]

I don't know the exact wording, but it goes something this...once you work for a newspaper/magazine/any other company, ALL intellectual property created for said publication/broadcast belongs to them, not you. You don't own anything.

So, technically, Kinko's is right, but it still doesn't make much sense.

 

[fishwrapper]

On their off days, DMV employees work at Kinkos.

 

[danhawks]

I seem to remember that you're safe if it's for personal/promotional use and not for profit. Tell the clerk to look it up in your big media law book you got in grad school 8)

 

[dixiehack]

Are you just making self-serve copies? Every Kinko's I've ever been to didn't care if I was copying the Unibomber manifesto, much less a point-guard-with-cancer feature.

Alternately, the office copier is usually available after midnight and Mr. Publisher is seldom around.

 

[SF_Express]

so I went to the local kinkos today to make some copies of my freshest clips and I had to ask one of the customer service people a question. After she answered my question, she noticed the articles in my hand and said "but you can't copy those, that's copyright infringement." Huh? I told her I was the author of the articles so it was my copy and she said it didn't matter that I needed written consent from the publisher.

Now, I studied some communications law while I was in school, but we barely touched upon copyright laws. I'm not saying it's not a law or anything, but seriously this seems a little ridiculous, doesn't it? I've gone to same place many times before and copied articles right in front of other customer service people who never said a word.

So what do I do? I have no problem occaisonally asking my publisher for consent to copy an article, but it seems like a ridiculous process and there also times, you know, when maybe I would prefer if I was the only person who knew I was making copies of clips. Does anybody else abide by these rules or do you guys just go make copies when nobody's gonna bug you about it? What do I do?

King, I can't say for sure letter of the law, but I can say this is really stupid.

Copy them somewhere else, do self-serve, print 'em off the 'Net. No right-thinking (and yes, that's a caveat) editor or publisher in the world is going to care that you copy your own clips for your own use.

 

[JR]

Making single copies of newspaper articles for personal use is NOT copyright infringement.

 

[leo1]

hey, conveniently, i'm in my last semester of law school and guess what class i just started taking last week: copyright!

yeah, so i've only had one day of class and only read about 50 pages of the casebook, but kinko's is correct in that it's a copyright violation.

obviously no one is going to stop you from making the copies yourself, although theoretically the copyright owner could file an infringement lawsuit. (copyright is governed by title 17 of the US Code if you want to look it up. you can google it.)

and sorry JR, here in this country there is no statutory exception for personal use. at least not that i've come across yet. the statutory exceptions are for things like use in libraries, "interpreting" for the blind, etc.

but again, this is where we see the disconnect between reality and the real world. no one would ever institute an infringement action if you made a copy of an article. the costs would far outweigh any potential benefits.

so basically kinko's is just covering its ass. damn lawyers...

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

This should have been a Seinfeld episode.

 

[fishwrapper]

This should have been a Seinfeld episode.

OR Curb Your Enthusiasm

 

[Peytons place]

There are, however, statutory exceptions in copyright laws for fair use, which is open to several definitions, but, if you are only copying a small portion of the paper's content and do not plan on using it for financial gain or are not causing any harm to the copyright owners' ability to make profit from the material, then you could have a legitimate claim for fair use. Not that I think it would come into play very often at Kinko's. How can you get through college without making copies of published material at Kinko's?

 

[Clever username]

Alternately, the office copier is usually available after midnight and Mr. Publisher is seldom around.

I highly encourage this practice. It's not stealing or misappropriation if you don't give a ****.

 

[21]

I don't think Kinko's is saying you can't do it...they're saying they won't.

 

[dixiehack]

Alternately, the office copier is usually available after midnight and Mr. Publisher is seldom around.

I highly encourage this practice. It's not stealing or misappropriation if you take into account the unpaid overtime they've squeezed out of you.

Fixed.