Library Intelligencer » copyright

A strategy for copyright in the digital age

shirley — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:10:04 +0000

nbsp;http://www.ipo.gov.uk/pro-types/pro-copy…

The UK Government has long recognised the importance of creativity and knowledge to the UK. It lies behind our investment in research, education and skills and our support for creative industries. Much of this value relies on our ability to access and share information as never before through the Internet.

We are, however, at a crossroads in our relationship with our new digital world.

Digital technology means access to information on a vast scale. It has changed the way people publish and consume works. It allows anyone and everyone to make and distribute quick, cheap and totally accurate copies. Consumers have reached out to grab the potential of this new technology. The copyright debate, once in the hands of the professionals of the creative industries, is now a debate for everyone. Businesses and governments have seen the challenges but have been slow to respond.

Although creative industries and governments are trying to catch up with the digital world, there is more to be done. We must push harder. Policy makers need to get ahead of the game. They need to recognise the need to work with an awareness of what consumers are doing and want to do. And they need to recognise that no single national government has control of the agenda.

We must now work within the international and European framework to ensure copyright keeps up with technology and consumer behaviour. We have to make it simpler, and make it address the concerns of all those who have an interest in the copyright system: business, consumers, creators and copyright owners.

Copyright and Data

shirley — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:20:55 +0000

nbsp;http://www.ands.org.au/guides/copyright-…

from ANDS website

Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums

shirley — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:21:18 +0000

nbsp;http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?a…

authors: Peter B. Hirtle Cornell University Library; Emily Hudson University of Melbourne – Law School; Andrew T. Kenyon
University of Melbourne Law School

Digital communications technologies have led to fundamental changes in the ways that cultural institutions fulfil their public missions of access, preservation, research, and education. Institutions are developing publicly-accessible websites in which users can visit online exhibitions, search collection databases, access images of collection items, and in some cases create their own digital content. Digitization, however, also raises the possibility of copyright infringement. “Copyright and Digitization” aims to assist understanding and compliance with copyright law across libraries, archives, and museums. It discusses the exclusive rights of the copyright owner, the major exemptions used by cultural heritage institutions, and stresses the importance of “risk assessment” when conducting any digitization project. It also includes two cases studies, examining digitizing oral histories and student work. As well as free availability here, print copies are available for purchase via www.createspace.com

EC adopts policy on handling issues related to large-scale digitisation of books

shirley — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:02:22 +0000

The European Commission (EC) has adopted a ‘Communication on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy’ aiming to tackle the important cultural and legal challenges of mass-scale digitisation and dissemination of books, in particular of European library collections. The Communication was jointly drawn up by Commissioners Charlie McCreevy and Viviane Reding.

source: KnowledgeSpeak

The All New JISC Legal Website

shirley — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:18:29 +0000

www.jisclegal.ac.uk

At JISC Legal we have upgraded our website and want to highlight some of the changes and features which make accessing our guidance more straightforward, helping you to avoid legal barriers to the development and use of ICT in colleges and universities.

We have produced a short homemade video to point out some of the new features which aim to make your life easier in getting quickly and intuitively to the information you need. Watch the short video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFobiNAe7…

One of the important changes is from static pages to dynamic content generated from categorised items to create web pages which are specific to ‘Roles’, ‘Themes’ and ‘Legal Areas’. As well as practical, relevant text guidance, you’ll also find a range of audio-visual resources.

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for OpenCourseWare

shirley — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:39:18 +0000

nbsp;http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/…

The Center for Social Media at AU has released a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for OpenCourseWare. From the press release,

“OpenCourseWare, the Web-based publication of academic course content launched in 2002 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been lauded for making college-level courses available to anyone anywhere in the world for free. The movement has expanded to include offerings from some of the nation’s most selective universities including the University of Notre Dame and Yale University…

Now, educational organizations have a guide that simplifies the legalities of using copyrighted materials in open courseware—The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for OpenCourseWare. The code was developed by experts in media and fair use at American University and a committee of practitioners of open courseware from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, MIT, Tufts University, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, and Yale University…

The code aims to help OCW designers at U.S. educational organizations recognize situations to which fair use applies and situations that require they get permission from third-party rights holders.”

source:CC blog

Copyright and data (ANDS guide)

shirley — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:42:57 +0000

nbsp;http://www.ands.edu.au/guides/index.html

This guide is relevant to those who deal with data, including researchers who generate or compile data, database/repository managers who store, manage and retrieve data, and users who access and use data. ‘Data’ is used here in a broad sense, as including datasets from observations, investigations, instruments, surveys, statistical data, metadata, recordings, images, video, software and text.

Open content licensing for foundations?

shirley — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:24:54 +0000

nbsp;http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/5603

The Berkman Center is pleased to announce the release of a new study undertaken in collaboration with the Hewlett Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Open Society Institute:

An Evaluation of Private Foundation Copyright Licensing Policies, Practices and Opportunities, by Phil Malone

This project, a joint effort of the Berkman Center, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Ford Foundation and the Open Society Institute, with funding from Hewlett and Ford, undertook to examine the copyright licensing policies and practices of a group of private foundations. In particular, it looked at the extent to which charitable foundations are aware of and have begun to use open licenses such as Creative Commons or the GPL for the works they create and that they support with their funding. We surveyed foundation staff and leaders and examined a number of examples where foundations have begun to take advantage of new licensing models. Based on the survey results, foundation experiences and additional research, we identified a variety of significant benefits that the use of open licenses can bring to foundations and their charitable goals. In particular, open licenses permit knowledge and learning to be widely shared and more readily adapted, improved or built upon, and allow those later improvements to be readily distributed. The result can be dramatically faster and greater access to research, information, technologies and other resources in ways that directly benefit foundations’ core missions and the public good.

The study sought to develop an analytical framework and set of factors that foundations can use to begin considering when and where the use of open licenses would further their mission and day-to-day work and where such licenses might not be useful or appropriate. It provides a great starting point for informed consideration of open licenses and the new opportunities they create for foundations and related organizations.

Download the full Executive Summary, Report, Survey Report, and Appendices at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publication…. As always, we invite your feedback and comments.

OAKList Database of Publisher Policies on Open Access

shirley — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:09:00 +0000

http://www.oaklist.qut.edu.au/

OAKList is an online database of information about the copyright policies of Australian publishers of scholarly journals: http://www.oaklist.qut.edu.au/

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Library is pleased to announce a new simplified process for people wishing to contribute new information to the OAKList database.

The database was established by the OAK Law Project in 2007 (under the leadership of Professor Brian Fitzgerald) to supplement the information about the copyright policies of European, American and International publishers available from the indispensible SHERPA-RoMEO database in the UK.
The goal was to create a database that could be populated with content and maintained collaboratively, by institutional repository managers. The Project was funded by the Australian Government (DEEWR)

When the Project concluded in November 2008, QUT Library agreed to take over the management of OAKList for an additional seven months to extend the coverage (i.e. the number of publishers covered by the database) and to streamline the workflow for content contributors.

Now, anyone with information to contribute (about a publisher’s copyright
policy) can submit the information via a simple webform. The form can be accessed via a link on the OAKList website. Current records can also be updated with new information via an ‘Update’ form that can be accessed via a link in each record.

New and updated records will be ‘peer reviewed’ by members of the Australian Institutional Repository community (using guidelines drafted by legally qualified project staff). The peer review process will be facilitated by CAIRSS (CAUL – Australian Institutional Repository Support Service).

OAKList now contains policy information for 268 Australian publishers and
570+ Australian journals. An additional 300+ publishers have been
570+ contacted
and asked to supply information about their policies.

OAKList offers an API for integration into repository workflows and interfaces with the SHERPA-RoMEO database and DOAJ (Directory of Open Access
Journals) making it a potential one stop-shop for Australian repository managers.

For more information about OAKList, please contact Paula Callan ( p.callan at qut.edu.au).

Copyright, Fair Use, and Teaching and Learning Innovation in a Web 2.0 World

shirley — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:15:09 +0000

nbsp;http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Copyri…

Abstract: This ECAR research bulletin reviews some of the basic tenets of copyright in the digital millennium. Specifically, it discusses the ways in which copyright law, fair use provisions, and the TEACH Act interact with today’s teaching and learning, especially the use of Web 2.0 tools by both faculty members and students.

available to UM staff via password