On Sat, May 7, 2011 at 7:06 AM, karim boughida <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Don't be dismissive so fast. You may go back and do your homework. Check > with your Counsel or literature. What's happening here is a work > around LEGAL realities. > [I am not a lawyer.] It's always a good idea to check with counsel, but it's a good idea to make sure that you talk to the right person in counsel's office since this is a relatively niche area of copyright law, and restrictions on single article ILL are more likely to arise in contract rather than under copyright, in which case they may have to check the specific provisions for each publisher. The right to make a copy of a single article from a periodical or collection for ILL are granted under 17 USC § 108 (d) and (g). The only specific restriction on the use of digital formats comes in section (b) (which covers unpublished works). It's hard to see how printing then scanning helps make legal anything that would be otherwise illegal under 108, so it would seem to be a licensing issue. Exit question: printing an article creates one perfected copy; scanning the printout creates a second copy, both as part of the same transaction. 108 (d)/(g) only authorize a single copy in this situation. Is this relying on fair use to cover the printed copy (which I assume is immediately destroyed unread once the scanning is complete?) Simon