DRM {and, or, vs.} the Law    

Copyright industries are hoping that digital rights management (DRM) technologies will prevent infringement of commercially valuable digital content, including music and movies. These industries have already persuaded legislatures in the U.S., the European Union, and other countriesto adopt broad anti-circumvention rules to protect DRM from being hacked, and courts have interpreted these statutes even more broadly than the lawmakers intended.

Samuelson, Pamela. Communications of the ACM (2003). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

ECMS: Sistemas Electrónicos de Gestión del Derecho de Autor

En plena era de la información, las posibilidades que brinda Internet como medio de comunicación de masas ha incentivado a muchos autores a utilizar la red de redes para promocionar, publicar y difundir sus obras. Cualquier usuario o cliente, desde su casa y con un simple 'clic' de ratón, puede acceder así a estas obras intelectuales en cuestión de segundos. Pero la misma definición de información electrónica conlleva que, del mismo modo, cualquier persona pueda infringir los derechos de autor, tanto patrimoniales como morales, con un simple 'clic' de ratón.

Hassan Montero, Yusef. Nosolousabilidad.com (2001). (Spanish) Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Economic and Constitutional Influences on Copyright Law in the United States

Despite the many signs of convergence of European and U.S. copyright laws, this article contends that copyright law in the United States will continue to differ in two significant respects from authors' rights laws of member states of the European Union.

Samuelson, Pamela. University of California Berkeley (2000). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>International

The Evolving Art of Rapid Response

PR people have been in the business of giving away content to reporters for so long that the matter of who owns the content—or who may use it under what circumstances— hasn't much concerned us. But our thinking about content and copyright is beginning to change as we put a rapidly expanding range of content on the web.

Forbush, Dan. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Public Relations

Fair Use: What Copyrighted Works Can We Use?  

Copyright laws permit us to make fair use of copyrighted works. We can reproduce and use copyrighted works if our uses benefit the public and if they will not adversely affect potential markets for the works. Generally, we can use copyrighted works for purposes such as the following: criticism, comment, news reporting teaching scholarship, or research. However we cannot unfairly make a profit from the use. Further, we cannot use more than a small portion of an entire work.

Helyar, Pamela S. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Fair-Use Issues

How to appropriately and lawfully use existing copyrighted materials in teaching, research, and other activities.

Indiana University. Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

First We're a "Virus," Now We Kill People with AIDS

Discusses claims that creative commons have 'spread like a virus' and 'U.S. copyright income' could be at risk.

Lessig, Lawrence. Lessig Blog (2005). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Five Challenges for Regulating the Global Information Society  

Information technology (IT) is unquestionably having a profound effect on many aspects of the social, cultural, economic, and legal systems of planet Earth. IT has enabled significant advances in global communications technologies, particularly the Internet, that make it more possible than ever before to contemplate the development of a global information society. (Originally published in Regulating the Information Society, Chris Marsden, ed., Routledge Press 2000.)

Samuelson, Pamela. University of California Berkeley (2000). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Freedom of Expression®: Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity  

The notion of intellectual property now extends well beyond digital music sampling to biology (gene patenting) and "scents and gestures"--and laws governing it, the author says, are being wielded like a bludgeon.

McLeod, Kembrew. Kembrew.com (2003). Books>Intellectual Property>Copyright

The Future of Copyright

At the 12th annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy meeting I was on a panel debating the future of intellectual property, in particular the issue of how copyright law is constraining technology. Other panelists included John Perry Barlow, Steve Metalitz of the IIPA, and fellow named Wrenn from Yahoo. As is so often the case, I was the only woman on the panel, and the only librarian. Oh, and I had five minutes to make my case. What you can't see here is that at the point when I said 'I am of course talking about librarians' the audience burst into applause. If you, reader, are a librarian, then that applause was for you. I wish you could have heard it!

Coyle, Karen. Karen Coyle (2002). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

The Great Giveaway

Good ideas are worth money. So why are hard-headed operators giving them away for free?

Lawton, Graham. New Scientist.com. Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Open Source

A History of Copyright in the United States

Since the Statute of Anne almost three hundred years ago, U.S. law has been revised to broaden the scope of copyright, to change the term of copyright protection, and to address new technologies.

Association of Research Libraries (2003). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>History

How International Copyright Law Works

If you photocopy an article in the U.S., you apply U.S. copyright law. If you photocopy an article in France, you apply French copyright law. That's the way international copyright law works: You apply the law of the country in which use of the work is made. This is called "national treatment" and is the underlying principle in the leading copyright convention, the Berne Copyright Convention.

Harris, Lesley Ellen. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>International

How to Write Copyright Pages  

A well-designed user guide contains a copyright page, which provides copyright information for your company's products as well as for any third-party products mentioned in your document.

Amott, Lyndsey. Docsymmetry (2004). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Technical Writing

Hyperlinks, Frames and Intellectual Property

This paper is concerned with how the use of hyperlinks and frames to present material from another website may infringe the rights of the originating site.

Hudson, Roger. Usability.com.au (1999). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Hypertext

Innovation Architecture

As the original end-to-end architecture of the Internet is increasingly compromised, and as copyright and patent law expand their reach, the commons of code, content and creativity that launched the World Wide Web is being quietly smothered. While Lessig focuses on technology and the law, his dark prophecies are relevant to the practice of information architecture.

Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (2002). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Inspiration vs. Theft: The Thin Gray Line

Inspiration does not come easy for most, and that includes some of the world's top designers and creative directors. Everyone has experienced what we call 'designer's cramp' (a designer's version of 'writer's block') at some time or another. There have been numerous articles about the problem and a ton of suggestions. Some of them work, but many fail miserably. Lance Arthur recently wrote an article in A List Apart called 'Creative Notions,' which is one of the best I've seen in a long time about the sketchy subject. Coincidentally, Lance is perhaps one of the most widely known designers on the web today, and therefore suffers from a great deal of plagiarism. When asked about this, he says, 'A dubious distinction, surely. I think having a somewhat higher profile than other personal sites contributes to my reign under this title.'1 Why is that? I believe because he is a creative person whose designs are original and inspirational. However, as long as web browsers come with the 'view source' button, plagiarism

Finck, Nick. Digital Web Magazine (1999). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Plagiarism

Intellectual Property and Economic Development: Opportunities for China in the Information Age

The information sector of the Chinese economy, although it has grown in recent years, remains a sector with a far greater potential for growth than has occurred to date. Intellectual property law can help fulfill China's further aspirations for growth of its economy. Markets for information products and services can only thrive when intellectual property rights are secure.

Samuelson, Pamela. University of California Berkeley (1999). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>China

Intellectual Property Arbitrage: How Foreign Rules Can Affect Domestic Protections  

Differences in national intellectual property rules may cause economic activity to shift from one jurisdiction to another such that a higher protection rule in one jurisdiction will be undermined by lower protection rules in other jurisdictions. This article illustrates this phenomenon with four examples: as to rules on the enforceability of anti-reverse engineering clauses of software licenses, the protectability of bio-engineered research tools, peer to peer file sharing, and exceptions to anti-circumvention rules. It considers several options nations may have to respond to intellectual property arbitrages, none of which is likely to be very effective.

Samuelson, Pamela. University of California Berkeley (2003). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>International

Intellectual Property Law Primer for Multimedia Developers

This primer will help you understand the legal issues in developing and distributing multimedia works. It is based on the Multimedia Law Handbook from Ladera Press, which has been endorsed by the Interactive Multimedia Association. This summary of the law should not be viewed as 'answering' most questions (the Multimedia Law Handbook discusses these issues in more detail in 340 pages and includes eighteen sample agreements to show how these issues are dealt within actual transactions; you can order the book by calling 800-523-3721). Legal matters in multimedia are frequently complex and you should not rely on the information in this primer alone. You should consult with experienced counsel before making any final decisions. Multimedia products require a knowledge of the four major forms of intellectual property as well as the laws governing rights of publicity, defamation and libel.

Brinson, J. Dianne and Mark F. Radcliffe. Timestream (1994). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Multimedia

Intellectual Property Rights for Digital Library and Hypertext Publishing Systems

Computers and the concomitant capability they have provided for making copyrighted works available in digital form in networked environments have created many new kinds of expressive opportunities. Computer technology together with communications technology has enabled authors to create digital libraries and hypertext publishing systems. Active development of such systems is now underway. While some difficult technical problems must be solved to build these systems, technical obstacles are thought to be surmountable. Less clear, however, is what kind of intellectual property scheme can be used to make digital library or hypertext publishing systems commercially viable.

Samuelson, Pamela and Robert J. Glushko. University of California Berkeley (1993). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

International Issues in Copyright: Frequently Asked Questions  

The area of copyright can be confusing and presents numerous questions. Juillet provides answers to some common copyright questions, such as who holds the copyright in a work-for-hire situation and whether a copyright needs to be registered to have protection.

Juillet, Christopher. Intercom (2007). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>International

IRTC Copyright and Intellectual Property

This page is a list of links to sites that contain information about copyright.

Soltys, Keith. IRTC (2001). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Is Copyright Blind to the Visual?

This article argues that, with respect to the copyright protection of works of visual art, the general uneasiness that has always pervaded the relationship between copyright law and concepts of creativity produces three anomalous results. One of these is that copyright lacks much in the way of a central concept of 'visual art' and, to the extent that it embraces any concept of the 'visual', it is rooted in the rhetorical discourse of the Renaissance. This means that copyright is poorly equipped to deal with modern developments in the visual arts. Secondly, the pervasive effect of rhetorical discourse appears to have made it particularly difficult for copyright law to strike a meaningful balance between protecting creativity and permitting its use in further creative works. Thirdly, just when rhetorical discourse might have been useful in identifying the significance and materiality of the unique one-off work of visual art, copyright law chooses to ignore its implications.

Macmillan, Fiona. Visual Communication (2008). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Visual Rhetoric

Knowing Your Rights  

The increasing popularity of Web publishing isn't just changing the way that intellectual property (creative works such as text, images, and even software) is distributed, it's also changing the way such work is bought, sold, licensed, and - in some cases 'borrowed.'

Roberts, Paul. Adobe Magazine (1998). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright