[ale] Fair Use question

[Robert Reese]

Hi Dave,

I missed a part of a question that I should have split: 

>> 2. Is it Fair Use for me to make weekly PDFs of the online content if only
>> for my own use?  How about for sharing with other class members?

> Yes, that is fair use.  Copyright protects from economic loss, such as selling it or, as in the case of your teacher, failing to compensate the author/publisher for COPIES. That is, the teacher does NOT have a right to distribute copies, even if they are free.

I need to clarify my answer was for the first question, not the second. The second one is a clear violation of copyright UNLESS your classmates have also purchased access to the content. If so, then you could give them copies of your PDFs of the material for which they already have a right to access.  Again, the copies should be destroyed at the end of the contract/lease period.  

Cheers,
Robert~