While I consider the protection afforded me by the copyright law appropriate and necessary, I also believe in the justness of the “fair use” exception thereto, when properly applied. I make use of this myself, as a researcher and scholar and author, and allow others to make use of it in relation to my own work, so long as they respect the rules that apply to “fair use.” I can’t recall ever complaining about anyone quoting an excerpt from my writing — even a lengthy one — in a non-commercial context. […]
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The idea for the PCCA came out of a decade’s observation of and engagement with content aggregation and delivery via the web. Many of the instances and examples had proved negative, primary among them the massive Lexis-Nexis infringement (including work of mine) that led to the landmark Tasini vs. Times Supreme Court decision and the much smaller-scale looting of dozens of essays from dozens of writers by the Paul Kopeikin Gallery (also including work of mine). Many content aggregators did it wrong, from my standpoint, starting with their basic assumption that they could and should get their content free of charge. How, then, could one do it right? . . . […] I wouldn’t take this personally, except that Ward delivers it in the context of a personal attack on me. This blog post of his begins with a substantial quote from an essay of mine. No problem there, but the irony, lost on Ward, is that he took this quote from a pirated online publication of my text from serial infringer Doug Rickard at his blog AmericanSuburbX. Ward then has some complimentary things to say about my writings before lowering the boom: “I met Coleman at an SPE conference a few years ago . . . and I wondered how he could be so consistently luddite and backward about the future of photographic education. Mainly, judging from his web presence, I really don’t feel like he ‘gets’ the internets.” [Plural his.] . . . […] I don’t find it an honor to have someone heist my IP — and most of my colleagues feel the same. Generally speaking, we prefer to receive formal written requests for such usages, and to make our own decisions regarding where and when to put it online. That’s a basic professional courtesy in the publishing world, to which Mr. Rickard appears oblivious. Let me be blunt about this: Copyright violation and other infringement of IP rights is never — I repeat, never — “a win-win for . . . photographers and content authors and clearly for the photographic community as a whole.” It’s theft: rude, arrogant, selfish, and unjustifiable. It sets a bad precedent generally; moreover, in the case of a given individual, not pursuing such infringement can void protection of one’s copyright at a later date. […] In spring 2007 Chris Clanton found my posted material tracking Paul Kopeikin’s 2001 violation of my copyright and the copyright of three dozen other authors, and contacted me to describe his own situation. I responded at some length . . . […] |
 SPJ Research Award 2014All content of this publication is © copyright 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 by A. D. Coleman unless otherwise noted. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced for commercial purposes without prior written permission. All photos copyright by the individual photographers. "Fair use" allows quotation of excerpts of textual material from this site for educational and other noncommercial purposes.
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