content and copyright

so I went to the local kinkos today to make some copies of my freshest clips and I had to ask one of the customer service people a question. After she answered my question, she noticed the articles in my hand and said "but you can't copy those, that's copyright infringement." Huh? I told her I was the author of the articles so it was my copy and she said it didn't matter that I needed written consent from the publisher.

Now, I studied some communications law while I was in school, but we barely touched upon copyright laws. I'm not saying it's not a law or anything, but seriously this seems a little ridiculous, doesn't it? I've gone to same place many times before and copied articles right in front of other customer service people who never said a word.

So what do I do? I have no problem occaisonally asking my publisher for consent to copy an article, but it seems like a ridiculous process and there also times, you know, when maybe I would prefer if I was the only person who knew I was making copies of clips. Does anybody else abide by these rules or do you guys just go make copies when nobody's gonna bug you about it? What do I do?

 

I had this happen once at a Kinko's. Infuriated the hell out of me. I brought in my business card and showed them proof of employment. That wasn't enough to satisfy the first clerk, but I sweet-talked the second one into letting me have the copies made.

I was very disappointed in their service.

Only advice I can give you is to find a local printer and get it done there. Shouldn't make too much difference in the cost, and the service is (in my experience) infinitely better.

 

"Yeah, you may own the tapes, but the magic that is on those tapes? WE own that!"

 

Isn't your Kinkos do-it-yourself? Go to Staples if not.

 

Some years ago, there was a big lawsuit involving Kinko's and a group of publishers, the latter claiming (successfully) that Kinko's had copied portions of textbooks, repackaged them into some sort of educational program, and claimed fair use. Kinko's lost.....which might explain the refusal to copy your clips.

But this is wrong:

You may be the author, but you don't own the copy, if you wrote it for your newspaper.

 

Very good point. The newspaper does own the copyright (although I do feel like you shouldn't be given a hassle if you want to make copies of your own damn stuff.)

 

Kinko's pulled the same crap on me too. Office Depot will make copies for you...or they would two-three years ago.

 

I don't know the exact wording, but it goes something this...once you work for a newspaper/magazine/any other company, ALL intellectual property created for said publication/broadcast belongs to them, not you. You don't own anything.

So, technically, Kinko's is right, but it still doesn't make much sense.

 

On their off days, DMV employees work at Kinkos.

 

I seem to remember that you're safe if it's for personal/promotional use and not for profit. Tell the clerk to look it up in your big media law book you got in grad school 8)

 

Are you just making self-serve copies? Every Kinko's I've ever been to didn't care if I was copying the Unibomber manifesto, much less a point-guard-with-cancer feature.

Alternately, the office copier is usually available after midnight and Mr. Publisher is seldom around.

 

King, I can't say for sure letter of the law, but I can say this is really stupid.

Copy them somewhere else, do self-serve, print 'em off the 'Net. No right-thinking (and yes, that's a caveat) editor or publisher in the world is going to care that you copy your own clips for your own use.