[blindlaw] Accessible legislation/law beyond 17 U.S.C. § 121

Sat Feb 7 02:27:34 UTC 2009

I was fully aware of what you stated; that was the basis on which I
was writing my responses.

On 2/6/09, Rod Alcidonis <roddj12 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Dennis is right on point! I wouldnt have even written a response if I had
> seen his first.
>
>
> Rod Alcidonis
> Juris Doctor Candidate, 2009.
> Roger Williams University School of Law
> 10 Metacom Ave., Box: 9003
> Bristol, RI 02809
> Cell: 718-704-4651
> Home: 401-824-8685
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dennis Clark" <dennisgclark at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 3:35 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw]Accessible legislation/law beyond 17 U.S.C. § 121
>
>
> Hello,
> What you have presented is your interpretation of what common sense tells
> you the statute must mean.  Unfortunately, with statutes, we are stuck with
> the exact language of the statute, and court opinions which have interpreted
> the meaning of the statute. As a lawyer you could make this argument to a
> court, but the reality is that the statute does not specifically say what
> you are reading into it.  Consequently, you would need to find a federal
> court opinion which presents your view, and I am not aware of one which
> does.
>
> The Chafee amendment specifies that only nonprofit entities that produce
> books in alternative formats for the blind may distribute them.  It does not
> say that a blind person who has received a copyrighted work in an
> alternative format from an authorized entity, may himself distribute his
> copy to anyone else who is also blind, even when he does not retain any
> copies.  This argument suggests that a slight twist on the first sale
> doctrine is present in the Chafee amendment, but I am not aware of any
> source to support this idea.  The first sale doctrine is what permits you to
> resell or give away a patented or copyrighted product which you purchased.
> Without the first sale doctrine, you would never be able to resell a
> copyrighted or patented product which you legitimately purchased, because
> selling a copyrighted or patented product when you do not own the
> intellectual property rights is the very definition of infringement.
>
> My legal advice based on a strict reading of the Chafee amendment to a
> client who wishes to give a Braille book produced by a nonprofit entity, is
> that they should return the Braille book to the nonprofit entity which
> originally produced it, along with instructions to ship the Braille book to
> the other blind party.  The reason for the nonprofit to be the decider of
> who should receive books in alternative formats, is that they have
> established procedures in place to determine who is actually blind or
> reading disabled, and therefore authorized to receive materials in
> alternative formats.
>
> The blind owner of the book we are discussing has no medical documentation
> to know for a fact that the party he is giving the Braille book to is
> actually reading disabled.  The recipient for example could be sighted, and
> then scan the Braille book into a computer using software which will convert
> grade 2 Braille into an electronic file, and then use that file to print out
> illegal copies of the copyrighted work in print.  Seems like a lot of work,
> but it could be done, and this is what the law is attempting to prevent.
>
> Moreover, if the Chafee amendment permits us to redistribute books in
> alternative formats for use by the blind so long as we do not retain a copy
> for ourselves, we could redistribute Bookshare and RFB books without
> violating the copyright act.  We would of course be violating our membership
> agreement with Bookshare and RFB, but that is a question of contract law,
> not copyright law.  Clearly Bookshare and RFB believe this would violate the
> Chafee amendment and that is why their membership agreement prohibits us
> from giving copies of books obtained from them to other   blind people.
>
> Copyright law presents interesting questions.
>
> Regards,
> Dennis
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <chatter8712 at gmail.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 7:49 AM
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw]Accessible legislation/law beyond 17 U.S.C. § 121
>
>
> I think that the main point in this, like all copyright cases, is
> complete relinquishment of the material. If you give the modified
> materialto another student and relinquish your right to the material
> (you don't keep any copy, digital or otherwise) it's completely legal.
> Same as if I sold a CD I had not ripped to someone else.
>
> On 2/6/09, Dennis Clark <dennisgclark at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> Hello,
>> Does this mean that I can not give my Braille calculus book to another
>> student, or sell it to him for the same price I paid for the thermoforming
>> of the book?  A strict reading of the Chafee amendment would appear to
>> prohibit this.  The NFB is setting up a website to assist us in
>> redistributing our Braille books to others.  Should we worry about
>> copyright
>> infringement?
>> Dennis
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "James Pepper" <b75205 at gmail.com>
>> To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 9:57 PM
>> Subject: Re: [blindlaw]Accessible legislation/law beyond 17 U.S.C. § 121
>>
>>
>> Here is the law:
>> (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section
>> 106<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000106----000-.html>,
>> it is not an infringement of copyright for an authorized entity to
>> reproduce
>> or to distribute copies or phonorecords of a previously published,
>> nondramatic literary work if such copies or phonorecords are reproduced or
>> distributed in specialized formats exclusively for use by blind or other
>> persons with disabilities.
>> (b) (1) Copies or phonorecords to which this section applies shall— (A)
>> not
>> be reproduced or distributed in a format other than a specialized format
>> exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities;
>> (B) bear a notice that any further reproduction or distribution in a
>> format
>> other than a specialized format is an infringement; and
>> (C) include a copyright notice identifying the copyright owner and the
>> date
>> of the original publication.
>> (2) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to standardized,
>> secure, or norm-referenced tests and related testing material, or to
>> computer programs, except the portions thereof that are in conventional
>> human language (including descriptions of pictorial works) and displayed
>> to
>> users in the ordinary course of using the computer programs.
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>
>
> --
> -Shane
> Website: http://www.blind-geek.com
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-- 
-Shane
Website: http://www.blind-geek.com
AIM: inhaddict
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Skype: chatter8712
Twitter: blind_geek