Copyright law is fast becoming a mine field. Whilst the law itself doesn’t change a great deal, advances in technology and the way it is used are raising fundamental questions on copyright and copyright infringement with fines and prison sentences becoming more common. A key example is what is happening at the moment with Google Book search settlement in the States. For those of you that are not aware, this relates to a copyright infringement lawsuit that was brought against Google in 2005 by AAP/Authors Guild after its launch to digitise books from library collections. Under the settlement publishers and authors will agree not to sue. Google will make available to search full content of the books it has scanned, enable a user to copy and paste sections and print sections. It plans to sell access to this resource. A short synopsis giving more detail on the settlement is available here. There are 3 large library associations representing over 139,000 libraries who are asking the court to seriously consider the interpretation and implementation of the settlement to cover the broadest benefit the settlement can enable. Key concerns are brought around the monopoly that Google will hold over digitised literature (Google has been compiling this since 2004 so it would take any other organisation a great deal of time to get to the same stage to offer the same service) and what pricing will be put on it. This could “compromise fundamental library values including equity of access to information, patron privacy and intellectual freedom” source ALA full details and updates on the case can be found here
Our trainer and expert in this area, Paul Pedley, has written a number of articles on the subject and offers further insight with up to date examples on his courses. One of Paul’s recent articles offers great tips and advice on how to ensure you are copyright compliant and avoid running into cases of copyright infringement. A key tip mentioned is to avoid sharing passwords. This was recently illustrated by a case noted in the Telegraph where a Private Equity firm, Blackstone was sued by FT for allowing multiple users to use a single ID and password to access thousands of articles between February 2006 and June 2008.
Paul is running courses on Digital Copyright and Digital Licensing for TFPL in June and July, check the training and events section for more details.
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