Re: AIS Copyrighted Material

I agree with much that has been said. We already have policies in place concerning copyright. These policies are specific to various subject areas, requests pertaining to those subject areas certainly should be reviewed by those committee chairs, registrar, photo manager, editor, Iris Encyclopedia. All of these areas have well defined written policies. Granted many never read them.

  There are very few grey areas. Here are a couple of points not well understood;

Registrar; Copyright law specifically exempts lists, although a complete list can only be copied with permission.  Descriptions are also a grey area and sometimes not considered under copyright.  Would anyone want people creating their own descriptions that would compete with the official description? Educational institutions generally believe in a sharing of data to a degree. But this is a two way street. For example, I would be good to have an agreement that allowed MoBot to use the descriptions in turn they would add images of those Iris to the Encyclopedia with of course the source being listed as MoBot. Having a credit saying registered description of the American Iris Society would also be expected. Both sides benefit.

Iris Encyclopedia; EVERY page on the Encyclopedia contains the following statement: bCopyright &B) by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authorsb  Just as any material, anywhere on the internet can be copied, the wiki, the AIS website, etc. are cannot be secure against that possibility.  

Copyright Law is still being developed and has not yet caught up to the current technologies. The Doctrine of Fair Use has become common sense on the internet but is not firmly established in law. Fair use allows people to copy an image to their own computer for their own use. It also allows a sharing of information for educational purposes that are non-profit making ventures. It is always appropriate to seek written permission. For example, just yesterday I sought and received written permission to put Don Jacobbs (famous plantsman who introduced some Iris) obituary on the wiki. But credit was given and someone seeking to reproduce that should seek permission from the source. 

An example of fair use would be taking an image from the wiki for a presentation to a small group, but if publishing that presentation permission, should be sought . As wiki manager I do not have the authority to grant permission unless an image is my own. I can direct people to the source of an image so they can seek permission. Or I can point I can point to the Doctrine of Fair Use and tell them to make a common sense judgement of their own. But speaking for AIS our written policy is, I repeat, bAll material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authorsb.

Normally, small copyright questions can be handled by the committee involved by referring to their written policies.  As Rita Gormley often said, bletbs not try to reinvent the wheelb. In special cases, such as the Costco issue I believe it should be considered by legal, but also PR, and the copyright committee, and sometimes the board. Certainly  PR should be considered before a legal action. A good marketing person knows a problem is often an opportunity. The bigger the problem, the larger is the opportunity. As Copyright chair I have been gathering information about what has worked and what has not, for big corporations. Since this post is already long I will save that for future discussion.


----- Original Message -----
From: "gary white" <in2iris@yahoo.com>
To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
Cc: vjohnson@howardandjohnsonlaw.com
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2013 8:51:45 PM
Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] AIS Copyrighted Material

Hello all,
 
Interesting discussion, and I appreciate several of the comments already made
on this subject, but I find myself in complete agreement with Tom Gormley's
comment that he "would caution everyone against nitpicking it to a standstill.
Maybe just a few guidelines and even fewer people to make the final
determination."
 
I would also like to hear Veronica's views. 
 
>From my perspective, I think that the organization requesting use of materials
and for what use are key to determining whether the privilege to use AIS
copyrighted materials is granted.  If it is for monetary gain, as appears to
be the case with Longfield Gardens LLC, then different rules should apply than
if it is for educational purposes or one-time use by other iris groups, etc. 
The Missouri Botanical Garden's request would fall in this latter category. 
First, they asked.  Second, they are looking for accuracy.  Third, they are
a highly respected educational institution.  Fourth, they are not looking for
monetary gain.  My view is that permission be granted to MOBOT to use AIS
Registry information as requested.
 
In general, I believe that people use photos and materials from the internet
far too freely, without making proper acknowledgements and obtaining proper
consent.  Its widely known that most iris publications grant permission to use
their materials to other iris groups with acknowledgement.  But caution should
be used by all groups to properly protect that privilege and that secondary
distribution is not abused.  For instance, when the Lincoln Iris Society
hosted the TBIS and MIS conventions several years ago, we obtained written
consent from hybridizers and gardens to use their images and information from
their websites for the auctions at the convention.  This was before the Iris
Encyclopedia was up and running.  At any rate, we had requests from a couple
people for the electronic copies of those images, as well as attendee lists
and contact information.  We denied all those requests because those photos
and lists were not ours to pass along!

Some of these requests may be very beneficial and positive for AIS, as
well....as Susan referred to.  They should be dealt with on a case by case
basis.
 
There needs to be a small group of people with knowledge of copyright law,
publishing, fair use practices, publicity, etc  to flesh out a few
guidelines.  And, a small group of 3 or 4 people should then be given the
responsibility of reviewing these cases and making a determination whether to
grant requested privileges or not.
 
Gary White
 
 
 --- On Thu, 5/30/13, MORRISJE1@aol.com <MORRISJE1@aol.com> wrote:


From: MORRISJE1@aol.com <MORRISJE1@aol.com>
Subject: [AISdiscuss] AIS Copyrighted Material
To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
Cc: vjohnson@howardandjohnsonlaw.com
Date: Thursday, May 30, 2013, 11:53 AM


All,

The American Iris Society has much information and data that is
copyrighted.  We have recently sent a "cease and desist" letter from our
Legal
Counsel to Longfield Gardens, LLC, Lakewood, NJ for unauthorized use of  AIS
copyrighted material with iris sales packages at a COSTCO in  California.

In addition, various members of AIS have received requests to use and
reproduce AIS copyrighted materials.  My questions to the Board are:   Who
should be designated to give approval to use our materials?  Should we  have
an
internal approval process or not?  I don't believe just "anyone" or  everyone
should have such authority.  Should the approval point be the  President
and Legal Counsel or the Public Relations Chairman?  Most of  you know that I
already have plenty on my plate.  As an example I just  received a request
from Missouri Botanical Garden where Jean and  I volunteer as follows:

Jim,
I plan on  uploading the iris images I have taken into the gardenbs (MOBOT)
database which will be accessible to the  public.  Each taxon has a field
to describe the plant.  I want to  propose to plant records that we put the
iris registry information in that  field.  First I would need permission to
use the AIS copyrighted  information from someone within the organization.
Who should I  contact?
Gary
Your opinions and quick feedback  would be appreciated.

Jim Morris
President
American Iris  Society

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