From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2017 15:55:46 -0400

Hello, Mark, I've had a related type of request only a couple of
times, and it was relatively long ago.

In this case, I too proposed as you have done, i.e., "nothing in this
agreement should be interpreted to diminish the licensee's or
authorized user's rights under the provisions of the Copyright Act of
the United States, in particular §107, Limitations on Exclusive
rights: Fair Use."

In fact, for each of the publishers at different times, this language
seemed quite sufficient and they agreeed to it.

Hard to think how to be "clear and short" about Fair use, as even
Section 107's language takes a few very short paragraphs.  I suppose
you could reproduce those? (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107)

Perhaps the reason we don't much encounter this matter could be that
so many licenses already take care of potentially arising issues by
itemizing the things that a user can do with the resource, and often
these take us to (or even beyond) fair use; we may assume that if the
license is silent on some activity, that activity is okay.  To be fair
to a non-US vendor, fair use is essentially a US concept and perhaps
not encountered in this vendor's country or laws.

Best regards, Ann Okerson


On Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 4:12 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: Mark Winek <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2017 15:57:13 -0400
>
> All,
>
> In the course of acquiring an e-book package from a non-U.S. vendor, I
> negotiated in a number of changes (I would say "improvements") to the
> license agreement. This includes a clause indicating that nothing in
> the agreement should be interpreted to diminish the licensee's or
> authorized user's rights under the Fair Use provisions of U.S.
> copyright law.
>
> Rather than simply striking this proposal, the vendor has simply
> requested a "clear and short definition" of Fair Use. Obviously, I
> want to provide a truthful answer, but also one that won't get so
> convoluted as to scare them away from including it in the executed
> license.
>
> Has anyone encountered this before? How did you respond?
>
> Thanks in advance for any guidance.
>
> Best,
> Mark Winek
> Georgetown University Library