General Copyright

112th Congress Copyright Legislation to Watch:

The latest round of anti-piracy legislation supposedly crafted to squelch online piracy has been thinly cloaked under the veil of copyright. 

What are they? Library concerns with openness of trade negotiation process Current draft and signed treaties U.S.--Chile Free Trade Agreement U.S.--Singapore Free Trade Agreement U.S.--Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement U.S.--Bahrain Free Trade Agreement

At the ALA's 2006 Annual Conference in New Orleans, the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) Copyright Advisory Committee offered an “open house” poster session on several copyright topics including electronic and media reserves, international copyright law, fair use, interlibrary loan, and more! Copyright experts were on hand to discuss copyright concerns, and attendees had their pick from numerous handouts.

Below are some pictures from the event (click to open enlargement in new window):

Jonathan Band, ALA’s outside counsel on copyright matters, has written extensively on library issues. http://www.policybandwidth.com/publications.html

Helpful background:

Libraries as Creatures of Copyright: Why Librarians Care about Intellectual Property Law and Policy
by Carol C. Henderson, former Executive Director Washington Office, American Library Association (1998)

This Page:

2006 Macrovision v. Sima Perfect 10 v. Google Greenberg v. National Geographic Society eBay v. MercExchange Older Cases - listed alphabetically ALA v. FCC Bowers v. Baystate Technologies Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp Eldred v. Ashcroft

At the 2004 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, the ALSC,  AASL, and  YALSA Legislation Committees presented the program "Who Owns Snow White? Copyright Issues for Youth Services Librarians." Copyright expert Carrie Russell, ALA Washington Office, discussed the dos and don'ts for children's and young adult librarians in public and school libraries. Click on the link below to access Carrie's PowerPoint presentation from this program.

Related Issues

Copyright Agenda

Copyright Term Extension Act Brief

PURPOSE: To extend by 20 years the length of protection afforded to works created by both individuals and corporate copyright holders.

FUTURE LIBRARY ROLE: By taking full advantage of the limited but important exemption described below, libraries, archives and nonprofit educational institutions can minimize the practical impact of this unfortunate legislation.

KEY PROVISIONS:

Libraries are often asked about the current duration of copyright or how to determine if a work is in the public domain. In 1998, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act was signed into law,extending the term of copyright for a the eleventh time in the last 40 years. An extension to the copyright term benefits copyright holders, since it allows them to continue to assert copyright protection of their works.

With the Bono amendment, the terms of copyright have been extended for an additional 20 years:

Supreme Court Issues Opinion ¦ Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments ¦  Library Associations file brief with U. S. Supreme Court ¦ Supreme Court Accepts Appeal ¦  Library Associations File Brief to U. S. Supreme Court

What are free trade agreements (FTA's)? What is the FTAA How is ALA involved? What is the status and what are the implications of the FTAA?

What are free trade agreements (FTA's)?

Introduction Shrink-wrap and click-on license agreements UCITA vs. fair terms Federal copyright law and license agreements International issues Resources on licensing

Last update: 25-Aug-2006 10:27

Carol C. Henderson, former Executive Director
Washington Office, American Library Association Copyright as a balancing of interests Libraries as creatures of the balance in copyright law What librarians seek in any copyright law revision or rulemakings Copyright as a balancing of interests

By Grant Painter ( bio)

For over 30 years, L. Ray Patterson has been writing and teaching about copyright. His thoughtful and thorough analysis of the primary purpose of copyright in The Nature of Copyright: A Law of Users’ Rights is a must-read for socially responsible librarians. Ray Patterson is Pope Brock Professor of Law at the University of Georgia and Special Assistant Attorney General of Georgia for Copyright Matters.

What is WIPO? Why are libraries concerned about WIPO? What are the key WIPO treaties for libraries? What are some of the current WIPO issues important to ALA? Traditional knowledge, cultural expressions and folklore Geneva Declaration on the Future of WIPO WIPO Proposed Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations