As part of its business, Kinko's Graphics Corporation (Kinko's) copied excerpts from books, compiled them in ‘‘packets,'' and sold the packets to college students. Kinko's did this without permission from the owners of the copyrights to the books and without paying copyright fees or royalties.
Kinko's has more than two hundred stores nationwide and reported $15 million in assets and $3 million in profits for 1989. Basic Books, Harper & Row, John Wiley & Sons, and others (plaintiffs) sued Kinko's for violation of the Copyright Act. The plaintiffs owned copyrights to the works copied and sold by Kinko's and derived substantial income from royalties. They argued that Kinko's had infringed on their copyrights by copying excerpts from their books and selling the copies to college students for profit.
Kinko's admitted that it had copied excerpts without permission and had sold them in packets to students, but it contended that its actions constituted a fair use of the works in question under the Copyright Act. What is the result? Explain.