Georgia Court Ruling Upholds School’s ‘Fair Use’ Use of Publication Excerpts

A federal judge sided with Georgia State University on a range of copyright infringement claims filed by three publishing houses in a ruling that administrators said could set an important precedent for how educational data is used by schools.

Senior U.S. District Judge Orinda Evans rejected 69 copyright claims against the university filed by Oxford University Press, SAGE Publications and Cambridge University Press. They claimed the school allowed “massive” copyright violations by allowing professors to download and reproduce excerpts from course materials.

The ruling by Evans found that “fair use doctrine” protected a professor’s decision to allow students to access an excerpt through the university’s online system. The doctrine allows the publication of material without the consent of the copyright’s owner as long as the amount of material used is limited.

She wrote that making limited excerpts freely available to students would “further the spread of knowledge.”

Legal experts closely watched the outcome of the lawsuit, which some said was the first of its kind in the nation.

“The judge’s ruling is significant not only for Georgia State University, but for all educational fair use in general,” said Georgia State University President Mark Becker.

Kerry Heyward, who represented the school, said the verdict could help colleges develop policies for electronic access. “This case highlights the importance of fair use in providing academic faculty a cost effective, legal way to spread important knowledge to their students,” said Heyward.