This object is released today, the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

http://www.iriss.ac.uk/humanrights/

Universal Music issued a takedown notice to Youtube reagrding a video in which a woman’s 13 month old son danced while a song by Prince played in the background. The Judge found that Universal had not made an assessment of whether this use constituted ‘fair use’.   The woman is now suing Universal for misrepresentation and interferance with her contract with Youtube.

While the doctrine of ‘fair use’ in the USA is not exactly the same as the UK notion of ‘fair dealing’ this ruling suggests that the big rights holders such as Universal may have to consider each case more carefully before issuing takedown notices whenever their property is used.

More details on Out-Law  http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=9375

According to a review in Information World Review (June 2008)- not available online – the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology compares unfavourably with Wikipedia as an undergraduate resource. The reviewer – Kim Thomas, a sociology PhD – thought the Blackwell offering suffered from partiality, impenetrability and a US-bias. Wikidpedia she found more useful, especially on UK coverage. The Blackwell offering, for example, has no entry for Michael Young, founder of the Open University and co-author of the seminal ‘Family and Kinship in East London’.

So one up for the Big Doubleyou.

Those participants who provided all of the required tags were entered into a draw to win an iPod Shuffle and the winner was Jo Burns, a lecturer from Glasgow Caledonian University.

We will be posting further information about this research here in due course. In the meantime, for any further information please email e.daly@strath.ac.uk.

It is not a polemic against copyright. Rather it argues that copyright has adjusted badly to a world in which everyone has their own digital printing press. The authors – themselves artists and performers who appreciate the protection afforded their work by copyright law – advocate a better awareness on the part of both creators and rights owners of what copyright law seeks to achieve.

Through a series of examples from documentary film-making- Fox seeking $10,000 for four seconds of the Simpsons playing on a television in the background of shot; incidental inclusion of ring tones or buskers etc. – the authors chart the rise of ‘rights culture’ with an erroneous perception that all uses of copyright material require the owner’s permission.

On a positive note they cite a recent case in which the judge found the rights owner’s objection to the inclusion of images of Barbie dolls in a film ‘objectively unreasonable and frivolous’.

Although based on US law, this lucid and entertaining guide to what can be a rather turgid subject is relevant in the UK.

‘Bound by Law’ – published under a Creative Commons share alike noncommercial licence – is available in PDF, Flash, html or hard copy at www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/digital.html

Andrew Gowers was commissioned by the Government to establish whether the UK’s IP system was fit for purpose in an era of globalisation, digitisation and increasing economic specialisation.  His report (Gowers Review of Intellectual Property (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/53F/C8/pbr06_gowers_report_755.pdf) was published in November 2006.

He found that the system was not in need of radical overhaul but recommended three areas where some change was necessary:

1. Enforcement of IP rights, especially with regard to piracy and counterfeiting;

2. Reducing the costs to businesses of registering and litigating IP;

3. Improving balance and flexibility to allow the use of digital content in ways consistent with the digital age.

The third category is most interest to those working in research and information activities.  He suggests greater clarity with respect to what may copied for research purposes, the intention being to ‘create greater scope for research on protected material by universities and business and expand the stock of knowledge’

Another interesting recommendation is that it should be easier to make use of ‘orphan works’ that works for which no author can be found. This will make it easier for cultural institutions to preserve our heritage.

CILIP, the professional body for Library and Information people has welcomed the proposals. See http://www.cilip.org.uk/aboutcilip/newsandpressreleases/news061208.htm

Copyright allows authors control over the use of their creations, including making and communicating copies to the public.

…..but is not always helpful

In the digital world it is easy to make perfect copies and rights-holders (notably in the music and film industries) have been sounding dire warnings about the impact of unauthorised copying.

Some creators, however, would rather their work was copied and re-used.

Wouldn’t it be simpler if the author or rights-holder simply stated what uses of they were willing to allow?

Creative Commons licensing enables authors to promote the use of their work without negotiating with each and every potential user.

From the Creative Commons web site authors choose one of a number licences which specify whether commercial use or the creation of derivative works are allowed.

Isn’t this giving away my work?

No. The author retains copyright but states the terms on which others may use the work.

Disadvantages?

Korn and Oppenheim remind organisations to promote staff awareness about copyright issues and maintain robust rights management procedures.

Check it out….

Many publications, especially in the voluntary sector, carry no information about permission to copy but depend on widespread circulation to make an impact. Creative Commons frees rights holders and licensees from troublesome bi-lateral licence negotiations.

More Information

Creative Commons video http://creativecommons.org/support/videos#wwt

Creative Commons background http://creativecommons.org

UK Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org.uk

Creative Archive http://creativearchive.bbc.co.uk/

The Open University’s OpenLearn initiative uses Creative Commons http://oci.open.ac.uk/background.html.

Korn, N and Oppenheim C. Creative Commons Licences in Higher and Further Education http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue49/korn-oppenheim/)

In order to effectively organise these images in the library, we have designed a short on-line survey to gather feedback on the kinds of key words people use to describe images. The survey contains 30 images and we invite participants to ‘tag’ or label these images with 3 keywords or phrases per image, with a chance to win an iPod Shuffle. The results of the survey will inform the architecture of the image bank so that it can be designed in a way that is most useful to our community of users.