Website links provided in a textbook?

January 28, 2009 @ 8:05pmfantaghiro says:
Not sure if this topic was already addressed in this forum. I teach English in an Asian country, and a publisher that I work with is making new editions of their English textbooks. However, they want the new editions to have links to websites that provide enrichment activities or additional knowledge. These websites to be used, however, are not produced by the publisher, but are pre-existing activities from varied sites.

The URLs, then, will be printed in the textbook for the student's reference. What do the copyright laws say about this? In this country, Fair Use Laws are modeled after the US law. Thanks.
January 30, 2009 @ 12:07pmksmith says:
Simply providing the links that students can put into a browser and follow if they choose to creates no copyright problem at all. All that is happening here is that the websites are being used as they were intended to be used by their owners. There is no reproduction or distribution occurring beyond that which is required technologically whenever a website is visited and which is impliedly licensed by anyone who creates a website. This is merely the provision of information about resources, and it no more implicates copyright law than does a footnote that cites a book or article.

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