1 III4WC4 i0 an at IV 0 Ann Arbor, Michigan Friday, October 30, 2009 michigandaily.com COURSEPACK CONTROVERSY Excel loses lawsuit over copyrights Campus coursepack shop owner sued for * do-it-yourself method of copying By JOSEPH LICHTERMAN Daily StaffReporter Students looking to save a buck by photocopying their course read- ings may run into some trouble, after Excel Test Preparation suf- fered a major defeat in its lawsuit with five publishing companies regarding charges of copyright infringement. Blackwell Publishing, Elsevier, Oxford University Press, SAGE Publications and John Wiley & Sons accused Excel of copyright infringement on 33 of their publi- cations. Excel, located on South Uni- versity Avenue, is one of the many stores in Ann Arbor that produces coursepacks for students and fac- ulty at the University. Many other local copy shops like Dollar Bill Printing on Church Street, copy and bind the material for coursepacks provided to them by University faculty members. At Excel, though, customers individu- ally copy and bind the master copy of the material that was provided to the shop by the professor. The publishing companies allege, however, that Excel's cheap, do-it-yourself policy regarding coursepacks is against the law. In June 2007, the publishers filed a complaint in federal court claiming that Excel had breached federal copyright law by notpaying the publishers for the rights to copy the material for profit. Boston Attorney William Strong is representing the publishers in the lawsuit and said in an inter- view this week that there are many similar intellectual property cases around the country, but the Excel case especially caught the publish- ers' attentions. "We learned about Excel's busi- ness practice, which was not to pay any copyright fees," Strong said. "And we felt that we could not let that go unchallenged." According to court documents, Norman Miller, the owner of Excel, claims that the store's copying policies are completely legal. He contends that Excel's actions are protected under the fair use stipu- lation of U.S. copyright law. "Since each student is mak- ing just one copy for his or her own individual use, no copyright permissions or royalty fees are involved," Miller said in the court documents. Federal District Judge Avern Cohn issued a summary judgment on Monday agreeing with the pub- lishers' claim that Excel broke the law. "The fact that the students push See LAWSUIT, Page 7 MAX COLINS/Daily LSA senior Katie Niedzielski buys clothes yesterday for her Halloween costume at Star Vintage located on State Street. The store, which specializes in 1960s and '70s vintage clothes and furniture thrives around seasonal events like Halloween - when their sales increase to around $1,000 a day. outh U. post office spared Loc 41( co Tha gell (D Centra short v The post of ation was one of one of 410 post office locations fac- ing the chopping block this year, 0 locations that but it's now remaining open, much to the relief of many Ann Arbor uld have closed residents who live in the area. Dingell was at the forefront of By NICOLE ABER the effort to save the post office, Daily StaffReporter located at 1214 S. University Ave. The post office served as a key nks to U.S. Rep. John Din- resource for members of the Uni- '-Dearborn), residents near versity community, a demograph- l Campus will still have a ic, Dingell wrote in an e-mail 'alk to the post office. interview, that he is determined to South University Avenue serve. 'fice was initially considered "It was clear to me from the location of this postal station that it did not make sense to close it," Dingellwrote. "It's inthe middle of the U of M campus. Having a half dozen of U of M grads on (my) staff helped put this in perspective. Not only did they use this station, it was the only one they had used in their time at school there." Dingell said if the South Uni- versity location was to close, many Ann Arbor residents would switch to different mail carriers, some- thing he wanted to prevent. "I also looked at the profile of the permanent residents who live close to the station," Dingell wrote. "If it closed, many people in the neighborhood would prob- ably have opted to switch carriers rather than drive to another post office. I didn't want that." Though Dingell said it would remain open, the South Univer- sity post office is technically still on the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission's list of locations being discussed for consolidation, according to Ed Moore, manager See POST OFFICE, Page 7 SIDEWALK SOUNDS IlE 1/ -AXfI RE-WRITING HEALTH CARE'S RULES Leaving a mark on the nation's health debate ARIELBOND/Daily The digital music ensemble class took its work outdoors, mounting an infrared sensor on a sidewalk that dictated - based on how many people walked by - the pace of music being created by a computer program. The class also wrapped plastic sheets around trees to represent "the labyrinth that is your life," according to Owen Campbell, a senior in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN MICHIGANs Mich. offic1is discuss new pot rules 'U' researchers introduced Value- Based Insurance Design to Congress By DARRYN FITZGERALD Daily Staff Reporter The much-debated health care reform legislation winding its way through U.S. Congress carries a distinct University of Michigan stamp on it. Research from the School of Public Health's Center for Value- Based Insurance Design has con- tributed directly to the legislation that is currently being considered in both the House of Representa- tives and the Senate. The basic philosophy of V-BID is to encourage insurers to modify their payout structures to make essential drugs more affordable for individuals, which in theory could, over time lower their total payouts and provide care that pro- motes the overall health of soci- ety. To accomplish this, the researchers suggest the prices of medical products and services should be modified so those more beneficial to patients - like hyper- tensionmedication - are relatively less expensive than those less vital Feds will no longer na patients or caregivers in the 13 states that have legalized the drug prosecute medical for medicinal purposes. That's a move that medical marijuana advo- pot users in 13 states cates in Michigan say will allow pain-stricken citizens to seek treat- * By NICOLE ABER ment with less of an emotional bur- Daily StaffReporter den. - - - While the new policy will not Patients looking to use medical change federal marijuana laws, marijuana have just won one more many proponents of the use of battle. marijuana for medicinal purposes The federal government will no say the new guidelines released by longer prosecute medical marijua- President Barack Obama's adminis- tration are a step forward for medi- cal marijuana initiatives. Inastatement released by the U.S. DepartmentofJustice last week, Dep- uty Attorney General David Ogden wrote that the federal regulation of marijuana in states that have legal- ized it for medicinal purposes has been complicated by inconsistencies between federal and state laws. He also wrote that the new guidelines - under which the federal prosecutors will no longer intervene - reflect a See MARIJUANA, Page 7 Jenifer Martin and Dr. Mark Fendrick, two members of the team that pushed for Value-Based Insurance Design to be included in health care reform legislation, sit insid'th' A AlrdTaub"man HealthtCare Center earlier thisweek to an individual's health - like erectile dysfunction medication. "The people who do nothing to keep themselves healthy pay the same amount as those who eat what their grandmother tells them," said Mark Fendrick, one of the group's researchers. The way the health care system functions now with co-pays, most patients pay the same amount to receive medical services of entire- ly different medical values, the researchers said. But both their findings and the current health care crisis indicate that this one- size-fits-all approach isn't work- ing. "(Under the current system) there's no distinction between something that has a high - ver- sus low-clinical value, between a drug that would save your life or See HEALTH CARE, Page 7 WEATHER HlI:49 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail TOMORROW LU:36 news rlmichigandaily.comand letus know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM From our food blog: Easy pumpkin cupcakes. MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THE TABLE INDEX NEWS ................................... 2 ARTS.....................5 Vol. CXX, No. 37 SUDOKU........ ........3 CLASSIFIEDS...................6 2009JTheMichiganDaily OPINION................ .......4 SPORTS............... .. michiyvrdoilycom