Copyright Advisory Network

I’ve been remiss in not posting about a great new resource for librarians and others working in cultural institutions: Peter Hirtle’s new book, “Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums.” I finally had the time to read it in its entirety over winter break, and I believe it will definitely be useful to anyone having to think about these issues. If you’re involved in decision-making related to digitization, dealing with orphan works, or having to consider those types of hard questions, I’d say this book is a must-have. IMHO. ^_^ I’ll provide a more in-depth description when I have a chance, but I wanted to make sure that it made our lists of resources now.

Carlos Ovalle Academic libraries, Copyright news, Fair use, International copyright, Orphan Works, School libraries, Technology

Fair use is one of the most important concepts in the day-to-day implementation of copyright law, and yet, by its very nature, it is a difficult one for many people to understand. We have four factors, which are sort of equal, but sort of not, and there are altogether too few cases that are unambiguous. Most people I know who are into copyright spend a fair amount of time explaining fair use, working out fair use analyses, or arguing those analyses with others.

In the October 21, 2009, Slate article, “Is there ‘Hope’ for Shepard Fairey?” Tim Wu answers the question, “How does fair-use law work, anyway?” without once stating the four factors of fair use. Does he oversimplify? Perhaps. Wu’s approach is a first for me, but I think his explanation, which focuses on “categories” of use, may be really helpful in providing a different perspective. Maybe it will even help turn on some copyright lightbulbs.

Freya Anderson Fair use copyright, Fair use

As many of you know, Larry Lessig has been a staunch ally in working to simplify copyright law and allow creators to share their works more freely with others. Lessig has also been a champion for users’ incumbent rights under the law, including fair use. Fair use and related exceptions to U.S. copyright law–such as the Section 108 exception for libraries to make additional copies for preservation the Section 109 first sale doctrine–have been central to the mission for libraries across the country. Check out this video of a lecture Lessig presented in Kyoto, Japan, October 4, 2009 titled The role of “fair use” in a time of CHANGE.

Timothy Vollmer Copyright resources, Creative Commons and Open Licenses, Fair use

Via District Dispatch:

The American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), The Organization for Transformative Works, and the Right to Write Fund have filed an amicus curiae brief asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse the Federal District Court judge’s ruling in Salinger v. Colting.

In July, the District Court ruled in favor of author J.D. Salinger, who claimed that Fredrik Colting, the author of “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye,” infringed his copyright on “Catcher in the Rye.” The District Court’s preliminary injunction prohibits the publication and distribution of the book, which the groups believe implicates free speech rights of authors, publishers and the public protected by the First Amendment.

In their “friend of the court” filing, the groups also assert that the judge applied too narrow an interpretation of the “fair use” doctrine, which permits new, transformative works into the marketplace.

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.

Salinger Amicus Brief (Filed)

Timothy Vollmer ALA, Copyright news, Fair use amicus brief, book, copyright, court, Fair use, preliminary injunction, salinger

The Copyright Alliance (not to be confused with the Library Copyright Alliance) is one of, if not *the* largest promoters of strong copyright in existence. It’s membership list mainly consists of copyright and entertainment industries. I’ll occasionally look at their cited scholarship when I feel like being depressed about the state of copyright scholarship. They’ve recently created the nonprofit Copyright Alliance Education Foundation to educate K-12 educators and students about copyright.

Unsurprisingly, I have problems with the materials found on that site. It’s not all bad, but one should be very careful before using any materials “as-is.” The materials stress the importance of permission, the vagueness of fair use, and a fear of technology. Believe it or not, I started reading the document with a sense of hope- creating copyright materials for K-12 is not easy. The organization has dedicated a lot of resources to this important subject; I had at they would acknowledge some of the purposes behind copyright law and the areas that are controversial. Sadly, it was not to be. In simplifying a complex subject (and this is even for the teachers, not only for the students), the organization has made their elements a lot less useful for educators who are actually interested in getting copyright right.

My biggest gripe is that they offer a simplistic and binary view of how copyright works, in and out of the classroom. In the guide for educators, they claim that the use of copyrighted materials requires fair use (characterized as scary, vague, uncertain) or permission. My first question: how in the world can you offer a copyright guide specifically for educators without talking about educational exemptions to copyright? We have actual exemptions specifically for educators in copyright law! Their guide specifically denies such exemptions. In the FAQ, they state that there are no special privileges for educators. That statement is completely incorrect. Sections 110(1) and 110(2) offer teachers ways to use copyrighted material that are not covered by fair use. Furthermore, their coverage of fair use could use a great deal of work. They don’t appear eager to have students attempt to use fair use, and in my opinion really minimize its importance.

As I was writing this message, Tim sent a message about EFF‘s new site: http://www.teachingcopyright.org/
The EFF talked about a “balanced” copyright system. The Copyright Alliance doesn’t. The EFF site walks people through the decision making process in determining whether or not a use is fair, and discusses different situations in which a use was determined to be fair. The EFF site isn’t perfect (and I’ll write to them with a couple of suggestions), but it’s a much more appropriate and realistic introduction, in my opinion.

Would that everyone could work together. The people in the copyright industries aren’t bad people. But there really are some fundamental differences in beliefs about public good and fairness in general that have made compromise difficult (and it seems to be the public side that is willing to compromise). I’ll write about this later when revisiting the government’s Section 108 report.

I believe that copyright is useful and important. I also believe that copyright exemptions are vital to creativity and innovation. Teachers, please be aware that there are problems with the Copyright Alliance’s approach. It’s very one-sided about issues that are not one-sided. I’m not saying reject it out of hand, but be careful. Not all of the true/false statements they offer can be evaluated by a true/false statement.

Carlos Ovalle ALA, Advocacy, Copyright news, Copyright resources, Fair use, School libraries, Technology