Copyright – Page 30 – DigitalKoans

SOPA/PIPA Alternative: "Fighting the Unauthorized Trade of Digital Goods while Protecting Internet Security, Commerce and Speech"

Senator Ron Wyden and others have released a draft proposal, "Fighting the Unauthorized Trade of Digital Goods while Protecting Internet Security, Commerce and Speech," that presents an alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 (PIPA).

Here's an excerpt:

We found that using trade laws to address the flow of infringing digital goods into the United States makes it possible to avoid many of the pitfalls that would arise from other legislative proposals currently being advanced to combat online infringement. Namely by putting the regulatory power in the hands of the International Trade Commission—versus a diversity of magistrate judges not versed in Internet and trade policy—will ensure a transparent process in which import policy is fairly and consistently applied and all interests are taken into account. When infringement is addressed only from a narrow judicial perspective, important issues pertaining to cybersecurity and the promotion of online innovation, commerce and speech get neglected. By approaching digital good infringement as a matter of regulating international commerce, we are able to take all of these factors into account.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital Bibliographies | Digital Scholarship |

"Copyright Policy and Practice in Electronic Reserves among ARL Libraries"

College & Research Libraries has released a preprint of "Copyright Policy and Practice in Electronic Reserves among ARL Libraries."

Here's an excerpt:

This paper presents the results of a survey of 110 ARL institutions regarding their copyright policies for providing electronic reserves. It compiles descriptive statistics on library practice as well as coding responses to reveal trends and shared practices. Finally, it presents conclusions about policy-making, decision-making and risk aversion in ARL institutions.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital Bibliographies | Digital Scholarship |

World Intellectual Property Organization: Draft Compilation on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives

The World Intellectual Property Organization's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights has released the Draft Compilation on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives.

Here's an excerpt from the "SCCR Releases Draft Compilation on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives":

The Draft Compilation is an extensive document, which the library delegation warmly welcomed. Its 45 pages contain comments and proposals by Member States on each of the 10 clusters of limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives. It is extremely encouraging that Ecuador has now tabled additional language for each cluster that mirrors the proposals contained in IFLA's TLIB 4.1 document. Consequently, IFLA believes the Draft Compilation is an extremely valuable document going forward.

| New: Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography, Version 80 | Digital Scholarship |

Scoping Study on Copyright and Related Rights and the Public Domain

The World Intellectual Property Organization has released Scoping Study on Copyright and Related Rights and the Public Domain.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The scoping study includes an illustrative comparison of national legislations that directly, or indirectly, define the public domain; and a survey of initiatives and tools, which may affect access, use, identification and location of public domain material.

| Digital Scholarship |

Copyright Infringement and Enforcement in the US

The American Assembly has released Copyright Infringement and Enforcement in the US.

Here's an excerpt:

The note excerpts a forthcoming survey-based study called Copy Culture in the U.S. and Germany. Drawing on results from the U.S. portion of the survey, it explores what Americans do with digital media, what they want to do, and how they reconcile their attitudes and values with different policies and proposals to enforce copyright online.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

The Impact of U.S. Internet Copyright Regulations on Early-Stage Investment: A Quantitative Study

Booz & Company has released The Impact of U.S. Internet Copyright Regulations on Early-Stage Investment: A Quantitative Study

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

A large majority of the angel investors and venture capitalists who took part in a Booz & Company study say they will not put their money in digital content intermediaries (DCIs) if governments pass tough new rules allowing websites to be sued or fined for pirated digital content posted by users. (DCIs are the companies that provide search, hosting, and distribution services for digital content such as YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud, eBay, and thousands of others.) More than 70 percent of angel investors reported they would be deterred from investing if anti-piracy regulations against "user uploaded" websites were increased.

| New: Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography, Version 80 | Digital Scholarship |

"The Digital Public Domain: Relevance and Regulation"

"The Digital Public Domain: Relevance and Regulation," which Leonhard Dobusch presented at 1st Berlin Symposium on Internet and Society, is now available.

Here's an excerpt:

After clarifying the notion and different areas of the (digital) "public domain" the paper engages in discussing literature on its relevance for society in general and economic innovation in particular. The effectiveness of the utilization of these abstract potentials however depends on the respective public domain regulation. In this context, the paper distinguishes different regulatory modes and arenas in both copyright and patent law, thereby focusing private regulatory initiatives such as Creative Commons or Biological Open Source (BiOS). In the last section, the paper presents open research questions and makes some preliminary suggestions for potential research strategies.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Library Copyright Alliance Sends Letter to House Committee on the Judiciary about Stop Online Piracy Act

The Library Copyright Alliance has sent a letter to Chairman Lamar Smith and Ranking Member John Conyers of the House Committee on the Judiciary about the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Here's an excerpt:

There are three pending copyright infringement lawsuits against universities and their libraries relating to their use of digital technology One of these cases, AIME v. UCLA, concerns the streaming of films to students as part of their course assignments. These lawsuits reflect a growing tension between rights holders and libraries, and some rights holders' increasingly belligerent enforcement mentality. Moreover, legislation such as SOPA and the PRO-IP Act passed in the 110th Congress, and the activities of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (a position created by the PRO-IP Act), encourage federal prosecutors to enforce copyrights law more aggressively.

In this environment, the criminal prosecution of a library for copyright infringement is no longer beyond the realm of possibility. For this reason, we strongly oppose the amendments described above, which would increase the exposure of libraries to prosecution. The broadening of the definition of willful infringement could result in a criminal prosecution if an Assistant U.S. Attorney believes that a library's assertion of fair use or one of the Copyright Act's other privileges is unreasonable. This risk is compounded with streaming, which SOPA would subject to felony penalties even if conducted without purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.

| New: Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography, Version 80 | Digital Scholarship |

Legal Issues in Mass Digitization: A Preliminary Analysis and Discussion Document

The U.S. Office of the Register of Copyrights has released Legal Issues in Mass Digitization: A Preliminary Analysis and Discussion Document .

Here's the announcement:

The Copyright Office has published a Preliminary Analysis and Discussion Document that addresses the issues raised by the intersection between copyright law and the mass digitization of books. The purpose of the Analysis is to facilitate further discussions among the affected parties and the public discussions that may encompass a number of possible approaches, including voluntary initiatives, legislative options, or both. The Analysis also identifies questions to consider in determining an appropriate policy for the mass digitization of books.

Public discourse on mass digitization is particularly timely. On March 22, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected a proposed settlement in the copyright infringement litigation regarding Google's mass book digitization project. The court found that the settlement would have redefined the relationship between copyright law and new technology, and it would have encroached upon Congress's ability to set copyright policy with respect to orphan works. Since then, a group of authors has filed a lawsuit against five university libraries that participated in Google's mass digitization project. These developments have sparked a public debate on the risks and opportunities that mass book digitization may create for authors, publishers, libraries, technology companies, and the general public. The Office's Analysis will serve as a basis for further policy discussions on this issue.

| Google Books Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Stop Online Piracy Act Introduced in House of Representatives

Representative Lamar Smith and others have introduced the H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

A bipartisan group in the House today introduced legislation that expands protections for America's intellectual property (IP) and combats the illegal distribution of counterfeit goods via rogue websites. The Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261) allows the Attorney General to seek injunctions against foreign websites that steal and sell American innovations and products. The bill increases criminal penalties for individuals who traffic in counterfeit medicine and military goods, which put innocent civilians and American soldiers at risk. And it improves coordination between IP enforcement agencies in the U.S.

Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge issued a statement about the bill. Here's an excerpt:

The new House legislation (HR 3261) is an unwarranted expansion of government power to protect one special interest. The bill would overturn the long-accepted principles and practices of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice and takedown process in favor of a one-sided enforcement mechanism that is far more broad than existing law while not attempting to protect the rights of anyone accused of copyright infringement.

In addition, anyone who writes about, or links to, a site suspected of infringement could also become a target of government action. The bill also features the now well-known dangers to the engineering of the Internet domain-name system (DNS), endangering Internet security while requiring Internet Service Providers and search engines to take on vast new responsibilities to block access to suspected sites.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Register of Copyrights Announces Priorities and Special Projects through October 2013

Maria A. Pallante, Register of Copyrights, has announced the U.S. Copyright Office's priorities and special projects through October 2013.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The paper articulates 17 priorities in the areas of copyright policy and administrative practice, as well as 10 new projects designed to improve the quality and efficiency of the U.S. Copyright Office's services in the 21st century. . . .

Rogue websites, illegal streaming, small claims, orphan works and library preservation are among the issues the Copyright Office will focus on through research and legislative support for Congress. The document also summarizes the work of the office in global policy, including U.S. trade negotiations, anti-piracy efforts and international discussions of exceptions and limitations.

The administrative practice of the Copyright Office will be particularly active during the next two years. The office has launched the fifth triennial rulemaking involving the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and will spend significant time considering and resolving regulatory issues affecting the copyrightability and registration of websites and other forms of digital authorship.

Maximizing the technical operation of the registration system is one of 10 new projects Pallante announced to help steer the office's future path. Other projects include a study of the office's costs and fees for public services, a major revision of the "Compendium of Copyright Office Practices," increased accessibility to historic copyright records, dialogues and roundtables with members of the copyright marketplace, and research partnerships with the academic community. In addition, the office will bolster its role in educational undertakings, focusing on core principles of copyright law and finding innovative ways to address the growing copyright education needs of the public.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Scholarship |

Copy(write): Intellectual Property in the Writing Classroom

The WAC Clearinghouse has released Copy(write): Intellectual Property in the Writing Classroom as an open access book under a under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Here's an excerpt:

The book is divided into three topic areas: Part I focuses on the law and legal landscape; Part II focuses on the tools and resources available to researchers and teachers; and Part III focuses on pedagogical practices and approaches for addressing intellectual property in the writing classroom. Each part concludes with a response by a notable scholar who helps highlight connections among the chapters and identifies enduring questions and future directions for scholarship and action.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Important Public Domain Case: Supreme Court Hears Golan v. Holder

The Supreme Court is now considering the Golan v. Holder case, which has significant implications for public domain works.

Here's an excerpt from the Supreme Court's Granted and Noted List entry that describes the case:

Section 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1994 (Section 514) did something unique in the history of American intellectual property law: It "restored" copyright protection in thousands of works that the Copyright Act had placed in the Public Domain, where they remained for years as the common property of all Americans. The Petitioners in this case are orchestra conductors, educators, performers, film archivists and motion picture distributors, who relied for years on the free availability of these works in the Public Domain, which they performed, adapted, restored and distributed without restriction. The enactment of Section 514 therefore had a dramatic effect on Petitioners' free speech and expression rights, as well as their economic interests. Section 514 eliminated Petitioners' right to perform, share and build upon works they had once been able to use freely. The questions presented are:

Does the Progress Clause of the United States Constitution prohibit Congress from taking works out of the Public Domain?

Does Section 514 violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution?

Transcripts of the oral arguments are available. The first one has been made public.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Analysis of the Authors Guild et al. v. HathiTrust et al. Case

Below are a selection of posts and other documents analyzing the Authors Guild et al. v. HathiTrust et al. case.

"About Those Orphans" by Brandon Butler
"HathiTrust and the Litigation Path" by Kenneth Crews
"Is It All about the Orphans?" by Kevin Smith
Resource Packet on Orphan Works: Legal and Policy Issues for Research Libraries by Prudence Adler, Jonathan Band, and Brandon Butler
"Suing HathiTrust" by C. E. Petit

Read more about it at "Authors Guild v. HathiTrust et al. Resources."

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Conference of European National Librarians Will Use Open Licensing for Data

The Conference of European National Librarians members will use open licensing for their data.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Meeting at the Royal Library of Denmark, the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), has voted overwhelmingly to support the open licensing of their data. CENL represents Europe's national libraries, and is responsible for the massive collection of publications that represent the accumulated knowledge of Europe. . . .

It means that the datasets describing all the millions of books and texts ever published in Europe—the title, author, date, imprint, place of publication and so on, which exists in the vast library catalogues of Europe—will become increasingly accessible for anybody to re-use for whatever purpose they want.

It will mean that Wikipedia can use the metadata, linking it to all sorts of articles; it will mean that apps developers can embed it in new mobile tools for tourism or teaching. Crucially, for information scientists, it will mean that vast quantities of trustworthy data are available for Linked Open Data developments, creating relationships between elements of information that's never been possible before. . . .

The first outcome of the open licence agreement is that the metadata provided by national libraries to Europeana.eu, Europe's digital library, museum and archive, via the CENL service The European Library, will have a Creative Commons Universal Public Domain Dedication, or CC0 licence.

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

"Copyfraud and Classroom Performance Rights: Two Common Bogus Copyright Claims"

Brandon Butler has published "Copyfraud and Classroom Performance Rights: Two Common Bogus Copyright Claims" in the latest issue of Research Library Issues.

Here's an excerpt:

Negotiating copyright law can be challenging even when basic facts are not in doubt. It becomes unnecessarily difficult when publishers, distributors, and even some libraries misrepresent basic facts: which works are under copyright, and which rights a library must purchase to support teaching and learning. Unfortunately such misrepresentations are widespread. This article will describe two common misrepresentations about copyright law: "copyfraud" and "public performance rights" for classroom uses.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Four Universities and UC Libraries Join Orphan Works Project

Cornell University, Duke University, Emory University, and Johns Hopkins University have joined the Orphan Works Project.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Leaders at Cornell, Duke, Emory and Johns Hopkins universities jointly announced today that they would begin making the full text of thousands of "orphan works" in their library collections digitally accessible to students, faculty and researchers at their own institutions. . . .

With the announcement, the four institutions formally join the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Florida in a collaborative Orphan Works Project, which aims to identify orphan works that have been scanned and archived in the HathiTrust Digital Library. HathiTrust is a partnership of more than 50 major research institutions working to share, archive and preserve their combined collections of digitized books and journals.

Currently, more than 9 million digitized volumes are held by the HathiTrust. No one knows exactly how many of those are orphans, but HathiTrust executive director John Wilkin has estimated that it could be as many as half. Of those, most are unlikely to have any surviving person or entity who can claim them. . . .

Only books that are identified as orphans through a careful process and also held in print format by the individual institutions will be accessible through the HathiTrust website, and they will only be accessible to members of their respective communities. Just as most academic libraries only allow authorized patrons to check out books from their print collections, so will online access be restricted to users who can authenticate with their university ID and password. However, if a university library is open to the public, visitors will have access through library computers.

The University of California Libraries have also joined the project.

| Digital Scholarship |

"Access to the Agreement between Google Books and the British Library"

In "Access to the Agreement between Google Books and the British Library," Javier Ruiz of the Open Rights Group analyzes the Google Books contract between Google and the British Library (includes a link to contract).

Here's an excerpt:

The British Library recently announced to much fanfare a deal with Google to make available online a quarter of a million books no longer restricted by copyright, thus in the public domain.

The deal is presented as a win-win situation, where Google pays for the costs of scanning the books, which will be available on both Google and BL's websites. This sounds very philanthropic from Google, however the catch is in the detail:

"Once digitised, these unique items will be available for full text search, download and reading through Google Books, as well as being searchable through the Library's website and stored in perpetuity within the Library's digital archive."

In order to find out what this really means we asked the British Library for a copy of the agreement with Google, which was not uploaded to their transparency website with other similar contracts, as it didn't involve monetary exchange.

| Digital Scholarship |

Is the Google Book Settlement Still Possible?

In "Google Books Settlement, 2008-2011," James Grimmelmann analyzes the impact of recent rulings and case resolutions on the Google Book Settlement. The rulings and resolutions are the In re: Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation ruling, the National Music Publishers' Association's resolution of The Football Association Premier League Limited, et al. v. You Tube, Inc. lawsuit (consolidated into Viacom v. YouTube), and the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes et al. ruling.

Here's an excerpt:

The road to class-wide settlement—even to a much more modest settlement that covers only scanning and searching—now appears to be barred. What is more, in light of the freelancers' case and the Supreme Court's recent Wal-Mart case, the road to class-wide litigation also looks to be extraordinarily difficult. Google will raise many of the same adequacy of representation arguments in its opposition to class certification. It might still be more feasible for a few copyright owners holding large number of copyrights to litigate on an individual basis—but the major publishers, who best fit that bill, have all more or less made their peace with Google through its Partner Program. The odds of the authors being able to see this one through to the end have just dropped precipitously. Google is holding all the cards now, and they're all full houses.

| New: Google Books Bibliography, Version 7 | Digital Scholarship |

ILL Impact: Second Circuit Ruling Limits First Sale Doctrine to Works Made in the US

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Supap Kirtsaeng that the first sale doctrine is limited to works manufactured in the US.

Here's an excerpt from the ruling:

Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Donald C. Pogue, Judge of the United States Court of International Trade, sitting by designation), following a jury trial, awarding statutory damages to plaintiff publisher for copyright infringement. Defendant claims on appeal that the District Court denied him a defense under the "first sale doctrine," 17 U.S.C. § 109(a), and erred in evidentiary rulings which, he alleges, led to the award of unduly high damages. In a case of first impression in our Court, we hold (1) that the first sale doctrine, which allows a person who buys a legally produced copyrighted work to sell or otherwise dispose of the work as he sees fit, does not apply to works manufactured outside of the United States, and (2) that the District Court did not err in its evidentiary rulings.

Commenting on this ruling in ARL Policy Notes, Jonathan Band said:

Accordingly, a library in the Second Circuit that wants to lend foreign manufactured copies must rely on fair use or the ambiguous exception in 17 USC 602(a)(2)(C) that allows a library to import 5 copies (except audiovisual works) for lending purposes, but doesn't specifically allow the library to actually lend those copies.

| New: Google Books Bibliography, Version 7 | Digital Scholarship |

Carl Malamud Issues Complaint about Smithsonian Institution’s Terms of Use and Licensing Policy

Carl Malamud has put up a website, What Would Luther Burbank Do?, that contains a complaint about the Smithsonian Institution's Terms of Use and Licensing Policy. The complaint concerns a take down notice that Mindy Sommers received from the Smithsonian Institution regarding her Vintage Seed Catalog Digital Collage Sheet Five.

Here's an excerpt:

1.1 The Smithsonian Institution's Terms of Use and Licensing Policy are in violation of 17 U.S.C. § 105 (the "works of government" clause of the Copyright Act) and 20 U.S.C. § 41 (the "increase and diffusion of knowledge among men" clause of the Smithsonian Charter). . . . .

6.1 Injunction. That the Smithsonian Institution be instructed to cease and desist all further "take down" notices until this matter has been thoroughly investigated.

6.2 Investigation. That the Board of Regents investigate and analyze the intellectual property policies of the Smithsonian Institution to determine if such policies are in violation of the Copyright Act or the Smithsonian Charter.

6.3 Restitution. That the Smithsonian Institution work with the community to create high-resolution scans of the Seed Displays source material that is not under copyright by external, non-governmental entities and that such high-resolution scans be released on the Internet with no restrictions on use.

| Digital Scholarship |

Google Books Bibliography, Version 7

Digital Scholarship has released version 7 of the Google Books Bibliography, which presents over 325 selected English-language articles and other works that are useful in understanding Google Books. It primarily focuses on the evolution of Google Books and the legal, library, and social issues associated with it, especially the Google Book Settlement. To better show the development Google Books, it is now organized by year of publication. It primarily includes journal articles, e-prints, magazine articles, and newspaper articles. This version expands coverage of law review articles and legal e-prints. Where possible, links are provided to works that are freely available on the Internet.

The following recent Digital Scholarship publications may also be of interest:

Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010. Presents over 500 English-language works.
Institutional Repository Bibliography, Version 4. Presents over 500 English-language works.
Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010. Presents over 3,800 English-language works.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

"Talking about the Public Domain"

Walt Crawford has published "Talking about the Public Domain" in the latest issue of Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large.

Here's an excerpt:

Ah, the public domain: Where creative work is supposed to wind up after a limited period during which the creator has exclusive control over distribution and copying. An ever-growing pool of literature, music, photography, video and art that we can use not only as inspiration but also as the direct basis for new works, annotating, deriving or just plain redistributing.

What a wonderful thing.

Too bad it's basically been frozen for quite a few years now, with almost nothing new entering the pool (except government publications—which start in the public domain) and things tagged with the Creative Commons CC0 license. Oh, and probably a few cases where a creator's been dead more than 70 years and has works produced since 1923.

Not only has it been frozen in the U.S., there are laws and treaties that would appear to shrink the public domain pool—which should, by any rational reading of the Constitution, be flatly unconstitutional.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Institutional Repository Bibliography | Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography | Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 |

Opt-In Settlement for Google Books Case?

James Grimmelmann reports that Michael Boni told US District Court Judge Denny Chin at the 7/19/11 status conference that the parties involved in the Google Books lawsuit "have been aiming for an opt-in settlement." The next status conference will occur on 9/15/11.

Here's an excerpt from Grimmelmann's "GBS Status Conference: Opt-in Settlement in the Works?" post:

What that might mean is not obvious. It could mean an actual opt-in settlement, one that binds only class members who send in claim forms. It could mean a settlement in which Google commits to an open-ended offer to all class members. It could mean a narrower, scanning-and-searching-only settlement, so that copyright owners can "opt in" to book sales by striking their own individual deals with Google.

| Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA): An Assessment

The European Parliament has released The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA): An Assessment.

Here's an excerpt:

The ACTA was motivated by a desire to establish equivalent provisions in international trade agreements containing rules on anti-counterfeiting. This is important at a time when free trade agreements are being negotiated by different parties. For the European Union it is also of importance to protect EU intellectual property rights (IPR) as future EU competitiveness depends on its ability to move into higher value added activities such as those for which IPRs are important. At the same time international agreements on IPRs will only be sustainable when they have the support of all parties. Within the EU the ACTA has also been the source of some concerns regarding the non-transparent way it was negotiated and whether it meets to aims agreed by the European Parliament and Commission that it would be compatible with the existing acquis communautaire and the World Trade Organisation's Trade Related Intellectual Property rights (TRIPs) Agreement.