fair use, or, a matter of principle

A very long time ago, when I was still working on The Book, I made the acquaintance of E, who is the president of a Database Company (DC) that produces a Nineteenth Century Product (NCP). The NCP was one of many, and I do mean many, resources discussed in said book (roughly 300 in the book proper and another 130 in the appendix). Since making our initial acquaintance, E and I have had several discussions about nineteenth century research and the like. Recently E and I had the following exchange via e-mail (this is excerpted only):

E: "... How can we get access to the book? [Employee] can put a blurb about it at [website], which gets a good deal of hits, insofar as it speaks favorably (I hope) about our [NCP]..."

Me: "The book is available from the publisher and places like Amazon. [links inserted here] ... Thanks for the offer to put a blurb about the book on [DC's] support site. I really appreciate that."

E: "No problem. Is it possible to get an e-version of all/part of the [NCP] content? That’s our lead, then we’ll add the link to Scarecrow and Amazon…"

Me: "Well, there is an e-version of the book that could be purchased, but I can’t send a virtual copy of all or part of the book. I don’t want to violate the terms of the contract by posting sections online. I’m sure you understand."

E: "I understand, but a snipper is fair use, no? E.G. IF I wanted to cite a paragraph for a article I’m writing on 19th Stuides [sic], that’d fall into fair use. What think? FYI, we can discuss on Wed. at 11 am your time, which is good for me, if for you."

OK - we now return to our regularly scheduled blog post.

So there are a few thoughts I have about this exchange.

1. I feel like he wants to use sections of my book just to promote his product. I get that he's a businessman, but I feel like what he's suggesting devalues all of the time and effort I put in to writing a 321 page book. Yes, his product is mentioned, but it's not intended as a "review" per se. It is intended to explain what the product is and how scholars can use it, not serve as a promotional tool.

2. If he wanted to purchase a copy of said book and quote a few sentences related to NCP, I would have no problem with that as long as he provided attribution. That would fall under fair use, which I'm completely fine with. What irks me is his assumption that I would, should, and could just send him the paragraphs and pages that are about his product.

3. I feel like by a "snipper" (what the heck type of term is that anyway?) he means large sections of text not just a sentence or two. This may be somewhat unrelated to the first sentence, but him claiming "fair use" irritates me too since fair use (as I understand it) is largely in relation to academic use. According to the U.S. Copyright office, "Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports." I'm not sure if his purposes strictly fit the definition although I suppose one could argue that it would be "news reporting" of sorts.

So while I do hold the copyright for the intellectual contents of the book, there is this lovely little statement on the publication details page that says:

"All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review."

So from that I take it to mean that quotation is fine but reproducing the content is not. Seems simple enough. Even if I was not having qualms about what he's asking, I don't think I have the right to just send him a digital version. Besides, I don't even have a digital version of the final, printed book. I have a digital version of the page proofs, but those are 1) not the final version and 2) not intended for distribution.

I think it's cheap and lazy of him not to just purchase the book and find the relevant content on his own. I'd rather not encourage such behavior. I don't want him to take content and make it seem like I'm specifically endorsing his product when his was just one of many resources covered in the book. I suppose he thinks he's doing me some sort of favor by mentioning the book on his company's website, but the book will sell just fine without his extra plug for it. The publisher is responsible for promoting the book, and I think they're doing a fine job of it.

So am I unnecessarily irritated by the whole situation? Should I not so stubbornly refuse to send him the content he wants? What think you?