Page:The librarian's copyright companion, by James S. Heller, Paul Hellyer, Benjamin J. Keele, 2012.djvu/110

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Related or Concerted Copying or Distribution (Section 108(g)(1))

Fasten your seatbelts, secure your tray tables, and place your seats in an upright position. If you think that libraries can do most anything under section 108, you are wrong. Section 108(g)(1) and (2) govern section 108. No Monkey Business is allowed. There are two parts to subsection (g), and we begin with the first part.

Section 108(g)(1) prohibits related or concerted copying or distribution of multiple copies of the same material, whether at one time or over a period of time, either for aggregate use by one or more individuals or for separate use by individual members of a group. Congress did not define what “related or concerted” means, so we will use some examples.

Example 1

Mary N. Librarian reads an article on insurance bad faith—when an insurance company places its own interests above those of its insured clients and unreasonably denies a claim. Mary thinks the article might interest several people: professors if she works in a law school, attorneys if she is in a law firm, or agents if she works for an insurance company.
 * Comment: The “related or concerted” limitation in 108(g)(1) may be implicated if, on her own initiative, Mary copies the articles for numerous individuals. The easy (and also effective) alternative would be to notify them of the article. If any ask to see the article, Mary could route them the