Pequod copes with high price of copyrighted course packets

Almost every University student has had to buy a Pequod packet — the bound, photocopied readings professors assign for courses — at some point. Some students complain about the prices charged by Pequod Communications, the company that manufactures course packets for distribution from its office in the U-Store.

"I think that Pequod charges more than they should," said Marquis Martin-Easton '05. "It seems like a lot of money to be paying for copyright fees for only small portions of books."

The USG plans to have two senators look into the possibility of decreasing the cost of Pequod packets on campus.

The USG plans to work with Pequod and the administration to cut or subsidize costs involved with producing the packet, said USG president Pettus Randall '04.

They plan to take the matter to the Priorities Committee — the University's budgeting arm — at the next meeting.

Pequod Communications was not available for comment.

Print-It, Inc. and Triangle Repro, Inc., also duplicate original work for University classes and compete with Pequod.

According to federal law, "The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies . . . for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."

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Economics lecturer Thomas Leonard said the law is open to interpretation about how photocopying can be determined to be a violation.

'Fair use'

To be considered fair use, the character, purpose, nature of the work, amount and substantiality of the portion in relation to the whole and the effect on the material's market must be taken into consideration before "fair use" can be established.

"I can make one copy for my own use, but it is less obviously fair use when I propose to make 75 copies for class," Leonard said. "The devil is in the details."

Leonard said each case needs to be considered on its own merits.

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In particular, the details of the case must be examined in light of judicial interpretation of statutory law, Leonard added.

The language of the law could be misleading because only the judicial interpretation matters.

"And, what is an economically defensible infringement of copyright may well be different from what the relevant statutes permit or from what the courts say the statutes permit," Leonard said.

At some point — determined by the courts — the boundary is crossed when copying no longer can be considered for scholarship and thus becomes copyright infringement, Leonard said.

While most institutions around the country offer duplication services similar to those of Pequod, however, some schools offer programs to defray the cost of copyright dues.

Amherst College subsidizes part of its professors' packet materials, said N. Gordon Levin, Jr., an Amherst history professor.