As the copyright administrator for Gnomon Copy on Huntington Avenue in Boston, I was aghast while reading the article in the Sept. 13 edition of The News, “With Gnomon Copy case pending, profs turn to other sources.” Various inadequacies in our language inhibit me from delving into the exact nature of the core problems that grip this whole article. I can assure you that many hours of time, at work and at home, are spent gaining clearances for the benefit of the teachers and the students. I can also assure you that this once-simple process we originally undertook has now become a largely service-focused business and certainly not a large-profit, simple-solution, scrap-the-law scenario. This service is for the teachers, who have only within the past 20 years begun to teach what they know, and not only what is available to them. This service is also for the students, who beforehand might only have had access to pre-packaged information, but now have a customized, less expensive materials package (consider buying all of the books that these teachers excerpt from.) Finally, as a service, Gnomon decided to settle out of court, and this service was no small expense. We are here to serve you, and we have proved this. We at Gnomon Copy do respect intellectual property rights and my job here rests on my ability to verify our total compliance with such laws. I enjoy my job here very much, and therefore can verify personally we are doing everything we can to make sure the publishers, the students, and the teachers are all as happy as we can make them. After all we have done for each other, I would have assumed a little more effort be placed on reaching a member of our management for comment (especially considering all of the good press Reprographics seemed to receive), and not left it so implied that we have an illegal setup here just to make a buck.

– James Coy is the copyright administrator for Gnomon Copy.