Check out this interesting article on copyright and technology: “100 years of Big Content fearing technology—in its own words” by Nate Anderson.
“For the last hundred years, rightsholders have fretted about everything from the player piano to the VCR to digital TV to Napster. Here are those objections, in Big Content’s own words.”

[Read more →]

Two economists at Washington University, Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine,  have recently published a book, Against Intellectual Monopoly, which asserts that the “current patent/copyright system discourages and prevents inventions from entering the marketplace. ”
Video Press Release 
Against Monopoly (a blog maintained by Professors Boldrin and Levine)

[Read more →]

The NIH Catalyst  September-October 2008 issue has an interesting article on copyright titled: “Copyrighting Right: How to avoid common copyright violations in scientific presentations and on the Web.”
“This article addresses some common misconceptions about copyright and provides resources to help you understand the law. Obtaining permission to use protected material or purchasing rights is not difficult, [...]

[Read more →]

Are you an author and wish to retain certain rights to your journal article that are not expressly granted by the publisher? One right you may want to retain is to post the peer-reviewed version of your journal article on your laboratory website. Another right is to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.
There is a customized [...]

[Read more →]

The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act (HR6845) was recently introduced. The bill includes a proposal to prohibit federal agencies from requiring a transfer of copyright for a work generated by federal funds.
Related Readings:
Alliance for Taxpayer Access
ARL/ALA/SPARC Memo
Copyright Alliance
Hearing on the Fair Copyright Research Act, held on 11 September 2008 (video)
Library Journal Academic Newswire
Professional [...]

[Read more →]

The American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology Policy recently created a slide-rule to help determine if a particular work is copyright protected. Pointing the red arrow to the date of first publication of the work provides information on the copyright status of the work.

[Read more →]

Interesting and thought provoking publication by Edward Lee on user-generated content/Web 2.0 tools and implications for copyright. As noted in the abstract:
“The most significant copyright development of the twenty first century has not arisen through any law enacted by Congress or opinion rendered by the Supreme Court. Instead, it has come from the unorganized, informal practices of [...]

[Read more →]

The World Intellectual Property Organization recently issued a guide titled “Understanding Copyright and Related Rights.” The guide is intended to “provide an introduction for non-specialists or newcomers to the subject of copyright and related rights.”

[Read more →]

Interesting article in the New York Times by Katie Hafner.
Three prominent academic publishers are suing Georgia State University, contending that the school is violating copyright laws.

[Read more →]

There is a wide range of rights that authors can opt to retain or those granted to authors by publishers. Some of these rights include:

• use part of the work as a basis for a future publication
• send copies of the work to colleagues
• comply with the NIH Public Access Policy or other funding agency [...]

[Read more →]