LIS510 lecture 6

Thomas Krichel

2005-03-02

reading

• Rubin chapter until page 153

• Library of Congress "Copyright Basics", available at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html

information policy

• This is any– law– regulation– practice

• that affects the – creation -- organization– acquisition -- dissemination– evaluation

• of information.

private value of information

• Information has value for its creators.

• Some creators require that you pay them in order to use that information.

• US law encourages the private creation of information and knowledge.

• There is market for information.

limiting access to information

• The creators of commercial information providers are concerned about unpaid access.

• Other companies, that do not primarily produce information may also be concerned about leaking of dat such as– R&D data– financial data– product information

protecting privacy

• This is a major issue in society in general

• Financial, health and other data are protected by law

• In libraries, the concern has been the protection of circulation records

• The patriot act has created fairly loose conditions under which law enforcement agencies can access circulation records.

freedom of information

• This refers to the idea that government information other than – military secrets– law enforcement records– private medical and financial information

• should be made available to the citizens so they can scrutinize government.

• This should be an important task for public libraries with respect to local government.

private dissemination of public information

• There has been a tendency away from giving the distribution of government documents by the government printing office to private companies.

• This has caused a lot of concern as the companies charge the taxpayers back something that they have produced.

• Such companies can copyright the information that the government could not.

example: legal information• In principle, text of laws and legal

information should be free

• Some old data of it still is in print form and can not be circulated without some cost

• Recent data could all be made available on the web.

• The judicial system does not organize upload of data and organization of data well.

• Westlaw and Lexis screw big $$$ out the taxpayer.

national security

• Protecting the cyber infrastructure has been made a priority. but nothing much is there that the government can directly do to protect private installations.

• There have been some restrictions on the distribution of formerly government data that has been considered to provide information on potential terror targets.

the library awareness program

• The FBI started to monitor the use of libraries by foreign individuals in the 70s.

• Libraries were believed to be places where foreign agents could get critical intelligence to gain a technological edge.

• Since the material held in libraries is published and sold commercially, it seems quite silly to monitor its use.

the Patriot Act• some knee-jerk legislation to try to protect

the USA– increases power to monitor citizens behavior– authorizes roving wiretap– intelligence authorities can require any

“business record”• the person concerned in the record must not be

informed• there is a gagging order to disseminate information

about the request• no independent judicial review of the request

control of expressions

• There has been a long history of censorship in all countries at all times. – IRA/Sinn Fein– sexually explicit material

• Sometimes the pressure on artistic works is indirect, e.g. through funding channels.

• Libraries generally fight censorship, but they have to keep their target communities in mind.

copyright

• This is the main area of information policy to libraries.

• It is very complex and not sufficiently taught in library school.

• There are large areas that are unclear and not tested through case law, especially in the copyright of digital materials.

• Copyright uncertainty is often an excuse for non action.

origins

• Congress has the power “to promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts, by securing for Limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries”.

• The first concern copyright, the second patents.

• We will leave patents aside.

things that can not be copyrighted

• Ideas can not be copyrighted. expressions of ideas can be copyrighted.

• Facts can not be copyrighted

• Databases are a grey area. – Feist vs Rural telephone said that the phonebook is not

copyrightable. It does not have the creative element that

– database industry is pressurizing for copyright

• in many instances the copyright holder is not that much important, but the licensing is.

what is copyrightable

• literary works– books, articles, software, web pages and sites

• musical works and their word

• drama, pantomime, choreography

• pictures, graphics, sculpture

• sound recording

• architectural works

how long does copyright last?

• for works created 1978 or after– life of author + 70 years or– for works made for hire or pseudonymous or

anonymous works• 120 years after creation or• 95 years from publication

whatever is shorter.

• a similar rule holds for works that were created but not published before 1978.

publish? • The 1976 Copyright Act defines publication

as follows: "Publication" is the distribution of copies or

phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. The offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display constitutes publication. A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication.

how long does it last?• For works published before 1978, the term

of copyright was 28 years from – the date of publication for works that were

published– the date of registration of copyright for

unpublished works

• Note that you can still register your copyright with the copyright office.

• The copyright office is run by the library of congress.

rights of copyright holders

• main rights are– right to reproduce– right to distribute copies– right to prepare derivative works– right to perform or display the work publicly

• the only important limit are– the concept of fair use (see next page)– and section 108 that deals with libraries. we

can not go into details there.

doctrine of fair use• in the US, it is in section 107: "The fair use

of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."

how to determine fair use• In determining whether the use made of a work

in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include– the purpose and character of the use, including

whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

– the nature of the copyrighted work;– the amount and substantiality of the portion used in

relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and– the effect of the use upon the potential market for

or value of the copyrighted work.

how to claim copyright• as soon as you have created a copyrightable

work, you own copyright over it

• if you made the work for a principal– work prepared by employee as part of

employment– work has been ordered or comissioned as

• contribution to collective work other than a periodical• translation• compilation of other stuff

the principal can claim copyright

right of first sale• Traditionally, if a copy of the copyrighted

work is sold, the buyer of the copy can deal with it essentially as they see fit.

• But the buyer does not acquire copyright.

• However with electronic digital copyrighted work there are problems. Imagine the buyer putting it on the web and let the whole world have free copies!

http://openlib.org/home/krichel

Please shut down the computers now.

Thank you for your attention!