From: Jim O'Donnell <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:49:36 -0400 In the Chronicle of Higher Education today, http://chronicle.com/blogs/tweed/cupcakes-collide-with-tuscaloosa-trademarks/30290?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en: "Overeager trademark enforcers at the University of Alabama cooked up another controversy last week, threatening a local baker with legal action for violating the Tuscaloosa institution’s trademark with Crimson Tide-themed cakes and cookies. But after a few days of sharp protests from critics, Alabama decided it was getting, well, a little too hot in the kitchen. The university withdrew the threat." Seems to me that's a specimen of a rightsholder who doesn't know when it's in its own interest to acknowledge fair use and let a small dollar revenue stream dry up. Wouldn't it be a nicer world if universities and publishers and Disneys made a *point* of their own admiration for and respect for fair use as a principle? If they convinced the general public that they get it about where a reasonable boundary lies between what we can do for free and when we should start paying licensing fees? I cannot think offhand and would welcome examples of rightsholders who have done a good job of that kind of marketing. I'll pay you a rights fee a *lot* more happily if I feel in my gut that they're more or less on the same page with me about where that boundary lies. Jim O'Donnell Georgetown