copyrights and reading guides

When people write and sell reading guides for copyrighted books they did not write , are they infringing on the copyright? I understand that if someone creates a reading guide for use in his/her classroom, it is not a problem. But there are now websites where teachers are selling these reading guides for $25 each. I haven't read them, so I don't know if they are using any of the original text, but I would think they must be. I have been reading about copyright law today, and I am not seeing how this would be possible to do without being liable. Any opinions?

A teaching guide about a book or movie etc isn,t violative of copyright.  The book itself is.   The teaching guide is the product of the guide,s author and the guide IS protected by copyright.

If the teaching guide reproduces sections of the original text, the author and/or publisher of the teaching guide should have secured reprint permission from the rights holder of that original book (unless the original book is out of copyright -- which is not as easy to determine as it might seem). I work in textbook publishing; these books routinely use material from all kinds of other sources for educational purposes (reproductions of art; sections of musical scores; excerpts from poems or short stories; articles from newspapers; etc etc). In every case, no matter how brief the excerpt or how tempting it would be to claim "fair use" or "educational use," we track down the rights holder and secure reprint permission.

Teachers who create reading guides for the use of their own students in their own classrooms are probably covered under educational/fair use guidelines (although they should still check with their institution's legal department and/or bookstore management for confirmation). But teachers who sell those guides are now using that original source material for profit. Probably safest in such a case for the teacher to track down the rights holder and secure reprint permission.

Some useful info here: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-educational-permissions/

Mandatory disclaimer: I'm not a copyright lawyer. 

Thanks apollo.

beppolina said:

If the teaching guide reproduces sections of the original text, the author and/or publisher of the teaching guide should have secured reprint permission from the rights holder of that original book (unless the original book is out of copyright -- which is not as easy to determine as it might seem). I work in textbook publishing; these books routinely use material from all kinds of other sources for educational purposes (reproductions of art; sections of musical scores; excerpts from poems or short stories; articles from newspapers; etc etc). In every case, no matter how brief the excerpt or how tempting it would be to claim "fair use" or "educational use," we track down the rights holder and secure reprint permission.

Teachers who create reading guides for the use of their own students in their own classrooms are probably covered under educational/fair use guidelines (although they should still check with their institution's legal department and/or bookstore management for confirmation). But teachers who sell those guides are now using that original source material for profit. Probably safest in such a case for the teacher to track down the rights holder and secure reprint permission.


Some useful info here: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-educational-permissions/

Mandatory disclaimer: I'm not a copyright lawyer. 

Yes, this is what I thought too, and I appreciate both your confirming my understanding, and explaining it so well. Thanks also for the link.