Monday, April 22, 2013

Copyright bullying, university edition

Copyright bullying at its most ludicrous: SLU’s general counsel threatens to sue AAUP chapter for surveying faculty because SLU already surveyed faculty, refuses to clear any questions because any questions might be “derivative works” of existing survey.  Statutory damages can be awarded against copyright claimants, too. Just sayin’.

2 comments:

  1. Rebecca, what's the provision where you can get statutory damages for false claims of infringement? It would seem a useful tool for situations like this but I've never encountered it before, or perhaps I have and it is eluding me.

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  2. A prevailing defendant can get fees under Fogerty v. Fantasy--sadly, there's no independent cause of action, so one would have to be able to bring a successful declaratory judgment.

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