There are two approaches to this dilemma that Dr. Hefner can take. The first is to cut off the availability to the group by changing his access information, and not allowing them to have the scientific journal readily available. If Dr. Hefner changed his username and password, his colleagues would no longer be able to access the information. This would be the safest solution and be completely following the laws of copyright by not sharing subscribed information unlawfully. Dr. Hefner would not be in jeopardy of breaking the copyright laws or going against the fair use doctrine. By following the Copyright laws and not worrying about going against the guidelines of the Fair Use Doctrine, Dr. Hefner is being fair to the publishing company of the scientific journal. He is not sharing complete access to the journal with his students which are potentially other paying customers of the journals subscription. He would not be preventing further revenue that the publishing company could be gaining from the students.
The second approach is to still allow the circulation of the scientific journals to the lab trainees and risk consequences punishable by violating copyright laws. People may consider this act as unethical because it is looked at as distributing the author’s information unfairly to non-subscribing users. However, in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine, Dr. Hefner has the right to copy the work for teaching and research purposes. The Fair Use Doctrine, a part of the United States copyright law, allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holder. This is very common in commentary, research, teaching, and criticism (“U.S. Copyright Office”, 2009). Dr. Hefner is not gaining any profit from this act. He is not charging his lab trainees a fee in which they can access the online journal. He is paying for the information and sharing it for educational purposes. If he distributed the information and access to the online journal at a fee to cover copying and his subscription cost it would be considered unlawful.
This solution is reasonable because he is allowing the knowledge and ideas of the scientific journal to be available to his lab trainees, which is not a large group of people. It could be considered unlawful to allow the access information to a large corporation, such as the entire university that Dr. Hefner is associated with, rather than his group of apprentices. An article from the Center for Social Media makes a point about the nature of a work. “Although nonprofit or academic uses often have good claims to be considered “fair,” they are not the only ones. A new work can be “commercial”—even highly commercial —in intent and effect and still invoke fair use” (Cohen, 2005). Dr. Hefner could be hurting the market for the product of the Scientific Journal by giving out the access information to his lab trainees. He would be making the publishing company of the scientific journal suffer. If many Professors follow Dr. Hefner and allow access to such paying subscriptions, the publishing businesses would suffer significantly.
After all that’s considered, a reasonable solution would be to continue the sharing of Dr. Hefner’s online journal with his lab trainees. Rather than giving out his access information, Dr. Hefner should consider allowing the trainees the right to use specific information through an online catalog. The only available information to the students would be the relevant material to the studies that they are conducting with Dr. Hefner in the lab. The files would only be available to his group of students by entering the appropriate access information. This would be sharing the information for teaching purposes to help the trainees with their relevant lab work associated with the online journals. This is different from giving out his personal access information to the subscribing journal. By making the journals only available through an online catalog, which he controls what is being seen by the students. This would make it unattainable for them to access to irrelevant information which they do not pay for. An example of this process is when professors post documents and journals through “Blackboard,” as a portal to use available information for their studies.
By sharing the information on an online catalog, Dr. Hefner is not hurting the integrity of the copyrighted work. He is only using the information for instructive purposes to help further the education of his lab trainees. The Fair Use Doctrine states that, “an individual may copy from a protected work as long as the value of the work is not diminished and such activity nonprofit in nature.” (Macrina, 2005) The fair use activities must be related to commentary, research, teaching, and criticism. Other complications come into effect such as the nature of the work, the quantity and substance of the material being copied compared to copyrighted work as a whole (Harper, 2001).
Also, the possible effects that copying the work could have on the market for the copyrighted material come into effect. It is considered unjust if the market for the product is hurt when sharing copyrighted material illegally. In Dr. Hefner’s case, he is only giving them limited access to the journals which are applicable to their studies. The students shouldn’t be obliged to pay for a subscription to the journal. They are only using a small amount of the material that Dr. Hefner is allowing them to use through the online catalog.
All in all, the copyright laws and fair use policy are considered reasonable in Dr. Hefner’s situation. These laws and policies are created to maintain the commercial integrity of scientific documents. They are not put in place to hinder the use of sharing information for the benefit of education. The fair use policy helps Professors share copyrighted information without violating copyright laws. By creating the protected online catalog of the scientific journals Dr. Hefner is not hurting the nature of the journal or the market for the journal. The online catalog helps the lab trainees in their research and doesn’t put Dr. Hefner at any risk of breaking the copyright laws. In further expectations, implicating online catalogs into professors teaching methods can benefit their student research
References
AMA - Fair Use (2009) American Medical Association Retrieved December 8, 2009, from http://wwwama-assnorg/ama/pub/physician-resources/solutions- managing-your-practice/coding-billing-insurance/cpt/cpt-products-services/licensing/fair-useshtml
Botterbusch, H (1994) The Educational fair access and the new media national conference Copyright and You.
Cohen, J (2005) Best Practices in Fair Use Documentary Filmmaker’s Statement of, November, 1-12
Gilmore, L (1999) Copyright Law and Education College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Retrieved November 28, 2009, from http://eduiucedu/wp/copyright/copyrightlawhtm
Harper, G (2001) Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials The University of Texas System Retrieved December 8, 2009, from http://wwwutsystemedu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/copy pol2htm
Macrina, F (2005) Scientific Integrity Washington DC: Asm Press
US Copyright Office - Can I Use Someone Else's Work? Can Someone Else Use Mine?
(2009) US Copyright Office Retrieved December 8, 2009, from http://wwwcopyrightgov/help/faq/faq-fairusehtml
