BOBBIE MCLEAN LIBM 6320

COPYRIGHT BRIEF

Fair Use How Much is

Too Much

Maxtone-Graham v. Burtchaell

United States Court of Appeals

October 15, 1986

Maxtone-Graham Katrina Maxtone-Graham published a

book Pregnant by Mistake in 1973. Katrina interviewed women about their

experience with unplanned pregnancies. These women signed copyright over to Katrina but they were never recorded with the Copyright Office.

Student Web, 2011

Maxtone-Graham Pregnant by Mistake was published by

Liveright in August of 1973. The book sold 2,349 before going out of

print on March 31, 1982. Publishing rights were given to Katrina

on February 24, 1982.

Burtchaell James Tunstead Burtchaell requested

permission to quote from Pregnant by Mistake several times but was denied.

Burtchaell consulted legal counsel then preceded to directly quoted from interviews that were from Pregnant by Mistake.

Burtchaell published Rachel Weeping on April 1, 1982.

Maxtone-Graham’s Claim She claims that Burtchaell made

numerous errors when quoting from her book.

She also claims that the use of her work was excessive and infringed upon her economic interests.

Get the Facts Fair Use

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes

The nature of the copyrighted work The amount and substantiality of the

portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole

The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

U.S. Copyright Office

This Facts of This Case: Numerous errors were made in the

quoted passages, however, the mistakes were not an injustice to Pregnant by Mistake

4.3% of Rachel Weeping was found in Pregnant by Mistake

Pregnant by Mistake was out of print at the time of Rachel Weeping

Cummins, 2009.

The verdict is in…

Educational elements outweigh the commercial aspects-the purpose of Rachel Weeping was to educate

Errors in the quoting did not effect context

Using 4.3% of the words was NOT unfair

References Clip Art on Slide 9, was taken from Microsoft Clip Art

Gallery. Cummins, G., & Alter, V.. (2009, July). Can Intentional or

Knowingly Reckless Misuse of Copyrighted Material Be Considered "Fair Use?".  Communications Lawyer :

Publication of the Forum Committee on Communications Law, American Bar Association, 26(3), 10- 16,43.  Retrieved October 26, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Complete. (Document ID: 1856730461).

School of Law. Student Web. Retrieved October 12, 2011, from http://www.studentweb.law.ttu.edu/cochran/Cases%20&%20Readings/Copyright-UNT/maxtonegraham.htm

United States Copyright Office. Retrieved October 26, 2011, from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html