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Re: use of postcards on a commercial website
At 03:13 PM 3/21/01 -0600, Dean DeBolt wrote:
That we are a
public institution has no effect on the enforcement of
copyright ...
On the contrary, your status as a state public institution may
indeed have an effect on the enforcement of copyright laws.
Some recent Supreme Court decisions indicate that institutions of state
government (including state universities or state archives) are immune
from copyright infringement suits. The issue boils down to the fact
that copyright infringement suits must be brought in federal court, and
the 11th amendment says in effect that a state or state agency may not be
sued in federal courts for dollar damages. In the recent case of
Chavez v. Arte Publico Press
<http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/chavez.htm>,
a copyright infringement suit against the University of Houston was
dropped on these grounds.
Of course, before employees at state institutions start violating
copyrights, I would encourage them to check with their own legal
counsel. There are risks other than copyright infringement that may
come into play.
Peter Hirtle
---------------------------------------------------------------
Peter B. Hirtle
Co-Director
pbh6@cornell.edu
Cornell Institute for Digital Collections
607/255-4033 (ph)
2B Kroch
Library
607/255-9524 (fax)
Ithaca, NY 14853
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