Copyright issues in the digital age
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Previous | Next | Table of Contents Libraries and library groups also continued to play an active role in copyright issues in the digital age, which present new challenges to fundamental copyright doctrines such as fair use, first sale and the public domain. Commercial content companies that produce books, journals, films, music, software, etc. fear that the ease of copying digital works increases opportunities for infringement and loss of markets. In turn, libraries and educational institutions—which, incidentally, are a major market for such works—are concerned that overemphasis on enforcement of rights and technological control of these works will make it more difficult for their patrons to make full use of those digital materials and will compromise the fundamental balance in copyright law that recognizes fair use. Technological locks can trump copyright law, overriding the sound policy reasons that allow some uses without asking for permission. In 2005, as in previous years, America’s libraries closely followed both legislation and litigation to make their voices heard at appropriate moments. For example, the ALA, the American Association of Law Libraries, the Medical Library Association and the Special Libraries Association filed a brief in November in a U.S. Supreme Court case that concerned whether publishers of collective works may republish those works in a digital format without seeking permission of authors or other contributors. A ruling requiring permission could inhibit the dissemination of collective works via digital and electronic media that involve combining digital facsimiles of complete collective works with software that enables a user to perceive them. (The case involved the re-issue of past issues of National Geographic magazine on CDs and DVDs.) This would stymie the adoption and evolution of technologies of great use to libraries and archives. In pursuing their goal of giving the public access to as much information as possible, the Library Copyright Alliance, composed of the ALA, the American Association of Law Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, the Special Libraries Association and the Medical Library Association, praised the introduction of legislation to establish the American Center for Cures within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bill includes a provision that would require that federally funded research appearing in peer-reviewed journals be made freely available to the public within six months of publication—an important goal for the library groups.
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