LETTERS: The added cost of copyright fees

To the Editor: Indeed the major difference between Campus Copy Center's and Wharton Reprographics' distribution of course materials is copyright royalties. If you deduct the royalty fees from the price of a course pack you will find that our prices are virtually identical to Wharton's. An article published by Foreign Affairs in Political Science Professor Dan Deudney's Political Science 150 pack has a royalty fee of $2.43 per student. In this pack there are 47 articles that carry varying royalty fees. Simple arithmetic tells you why it costs what it does. However, in a telephone conversation with Carol Risher of the Association of American Publishers in Washington, D.C., she made it unequivocally clear that non-profit institutions like Penn are not exempt from seeking permission to reprint copyrighted works and paying royalties. Infringement lawsuits brought against New York University, University of California at Berkeley and Radford College bear this out. Not only were the institutions sued, but the faculty members submitting the materials were also named in the suits. Campus Copy Center will never expose faculty who submit course materials to us to that risk. Ever. How is it that an institution of higher learning such as Penn (and Wharton Reprographics) can conduct itself in such a manner when the law is so clear? Are the University's legal advisors aware of these practices? It seems the DP should have researched the reprinting business a bit better -- the landmark case of Basic Books v. Kinko's in 1991 clearly shows that "fair use" consists of a few pages, not a few chapters, from a copyrighted work. Also, at the request of the DP, Stanley Shapiro, owner of Campus Copy Center, has always granted interviews on the subject of course packs in the past. The decision not to print those interviews was an editorial act, not one of aloofness on our part. Those faculty who have dealt with us the last 38 years can tell you how accessible and honest we are about what we do. Campus Copy Center has always been proud of our reputation for unsurpassed customer service, deadline flexibility and overall user friendliness. Our extended hours and acceptance of all major credit cards make it easy for students to get their course materials. We would welcome the opportunity to accept the Penn Card at Campus Copy Center. We have made our interest clear to the University, but have heard of no decision regarding non-Penn vendors accepting the card. We have always told faculty at Penn we are as integral a part of the educational process as the other bookstores and we feel a moral obligation to the students to make their experience with Campus Copy Center as positive as possible. We hope that this response will enlighten the faculty and student body as to the integrity of Campus Copy Center and the commitment we feel to the highest levels of service and quality. Stanley Shapiro, President Ronald Shapiro, General Manager Michael Drake, Manager Campus Copy Center u To the Editor: Your front page story "Printing Money?" (DP, 9/18/97) on Wharton Reprographics, says about half their volume is bulkpacks and the rest "?newsletters such as the Almanac, business cards and reports?". Almanac itself is not printed at Wharton Reprographcs. They do our distribution labels, and they do 700 offprints of Job Opportunities for Human Resources' use each week, plus other one-time reprint work where no halftones are involved. And a fine job they do. Their equipment is excellent for this work and their staff is highly dedicated. But the issue itself is printed by Alesi Graphics in Pennsauken, N.J., and they do a monumental job. In less than 24 hours they turn out 15,000 copies, 16-24 (or more) pages each, with high-resolution halftones -- bundled and labeled for over 200 campus locations. This kind of speed and quality takes Alesi's kind of equipment (they use one of the 38" Millers for our presswork) and it calls for staffing in depth, of the very highest order. Alesi was chosen over six other finalists in a competitive bidding process conducted for us by the University Publications Office, and we commend both our chosen firm, and the process by which we chose them, to anyone who is looking for excellence and cost-effective service in printing. Karen Gaines Editor, Almanac Food truck rhetoric To the Editor, The University has consistently avoided stating clearly what their motivation is in regulating food trucks; capturing rents from retail operators on and around campus. The rhetoric espoused by the University around this issue has been carefully formulated to give the impression the University is motivated by issues of safety and quality of life. These may be included, but don't you believe that these are the only, or primary, motivating factors. That would be money. James Sledd SAS Computing