NYU Copy Suit Settled Out of Court

A lengthy court battle ended abruptly last week when a group of publishers dropped a copyright violation suit against eight professors at New York University (NYU)

The publishers had charged that the professors copied excessive amounts of protected material for classes without first obtaining prerequisite permission for use of the works

In the out-of court settlement, NYU, the nation's largest privately endowed university, promised to follow a set of 1976 guidelines that set minimal standards for the "fair use" of copyright materials, and said it would ensure that its faculty followed suit.

But officials here contacted yesterday said that the decision will have little effect on copying at Harvard "From what I have heard of the decision, it sounds to me that [abiding by the "fair use" copyright guidelines] is what we have been doing from the beginning," said James A Sharaf '59, assistant general counsel for the University.

Sharaf added that shortly after the 1976 guidelines were formulated he circulated a memorandum to all faculty members informing them of the revised copying regulations.

I haven't heard any complaints about what we're doing," he said.

Some faculty members were not so sure "[The case] may affect smaller courses that don't have the financial muscle to call up publishers," said Jonathan A Haughton, an instructor in Social Analysis 10.

Obtaining such permission for the numerous pieces used in the course's Readings Workbook each year, he added, is very expensive. "It is only the course's large size that makes it possible," he said.

The guidelines will have no effect on students who occasionally want copies for their own use.

Jon A. Baumgarten, trial counsel for the Association of American Publishers, which financially backed the suit, said he hoped the principles reached in the agreement would be taken to heart by other institutions.

"We're really hopeful that other universities will see this as a basis for similar action on other campuses," he said yesterday, referring to NYU's agreement to self-enforce copying guidelines.