Copyright and EMu: Some thoughts on using the rights module Emily Hudson [email protected] 5...
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Transcript of Copyright and EMu: Some thoughts on using the rights module Emily Hudson [email protected] 5...
Copyright and EMu:Some thoughts on using the
rights module
Emily Hudson
[email protected] Australasian EMu User Group Meeting
National Museum of Australia, 6-7 September 2006
Issue 1: Why?
• To create a centralised database of copyright information (‘Database Goal’):– Records assessment of copyright status, use of
copyright works, terms of licences, and so forth.
• To help staff complete their duties (‘Facilitation Goal’):– Lets staff know what activities are permissible, and
when a copyright clearance is required.– Records institutional uses of copyright material: may
help to encourage compliance with law.
Questions for today
• Who will have the ability to access information?
• Who will be responsible for ensuring that information is accurate and up-to-date?
• What information should be recorded?
Issue 2: Who will have access?
• Staff whose responsibilities include copyright (in whole or in part).– Examples: rights officers; registrars; etc. – Will vary depending on institution’s system for
dealing with copyright.
• What about other staff?
• Broader question: how does the database achieve Facilitation Goals?
Facilitation of staff activities
‘One-stop-shop’:• Staff can use images
without having to liaise with copyright staff.
• Key benefit: efficiency.• But: a little knowledge can
be a dangerous thing!• Information needs to be
accurate and up-to-date.• Attractive where:
– images in high demand; or– copyright information readily
available, and compliance straightforward.
‘Centralised facilitation’:• General staff must liaise
with copyright staff when publicly reproducing collection items.
• Allows institutions greater control over staff activities, and whether those activities comply with copyright & internal policies.
• Attractive/essential where: – difficult / costly to compile
complete rights information;– tricky conditions on use.
Issue 3: Responsibility for content
• Ideally, legal information should only be entered and altered by staff who have been appropriately trained.
• Whenever new information is added, it may be useful to record who added that information and the date.– Helps track whether information is current.
• Include clear warnings or indicia if there is uncertainty regarding the accuracy of information.
Issue 4: Content
• Where material is protected by copyright, useful information includes:– identification of the copyright owner(s) (including
contact details);– when copyright is due to expire;– the key terms of any licence(s) with the copyright
owner(s); – a record of uses by the institution; and– moral rights information.
• Note: multiple copyrights may subsist in a single item!
Is the item protected by copyright?
• If no: there are no copyright restraints on use.• Answer may be no because:
– Work not of a type protected by copyright (eg fossils, plant specimens); or
– Copyright has expired (eg pre-1955 photographs).
• Complications: – Multiple rights: > one copyright in a single item. – Multiple owners: > one owner of copyright.
• Does EMu allow multiple rights/owners to be recorded?
– Rights in underlying works: risk of ‘indirect copying’.• Very small risk: but how to record this?
Who owns copyright?
• Default rule in the Copyright Act: the author or maker, but note:– there are exceptions, for instance for employee-
created and commissioned works; and– copyright can be transferred, for instance by
assignment or will.
• Some copyright owners are represented by collecting societies – this should be recorded.
• Identifying and/or tracking down the copyright owner can be VERY difficult.– ‘orphan works’: possible field to record attempts to
identify/locate the copyright owner?
When is copyright due to expire?
• Literary, dramatic and musical works:– Published in lifetime of author: 70 years after the year
in which the author died.– Published posthumously: 70 years after year in which
publication took place.– Unpublished: effectively indefinite.
• Artistic works: 70 years after the year in which the artist died.
• Sound recordings and films:– Published: 70 years after year in which publication
took place.– Unpublished: effectively indefinite.
Licences and other transactions
• Essential that copyright licences are noted in the collection record. Important details include:– name and contact details of licensor;– duration (including expiry date, if fixed term);– rights granted (including any special conditions); and– payment structure (if fees payable).
• Take great care in summarising a licence: a simplified statement may significantly alter the sense of a provision.
• It may be useful to record the institution’s uses of reproductions of collection items.
Moral rights
• Rights of attribution and integrity are granted under the Copyright Act.
• At the very least, the database should include fields for the preferred form of attribution of the author and the work.
• Other stipulations or sensitivities should also be noted, such as the need to obtain community consents for some Indigenous cultural materials.
Some final thoughts
• Take care when using legal terms of art. Words like ‘owner’ or ‘creator’ can be misleading if a legal analysis has not been undertaken.
• Copyright is tricky. Uncertainty in the rights information is okay – as long as this is clearly indicated and users are warned not to rely on it.
• Think about why you’re recording rights information. Don’t waste time and money unnecessarily!
• For more information: – Hudson and Kenyon, Copyright and Cultural
Institutions: Guidelines for Digitisation (2005), available for free from www.law.unimelb.edu.au/cmcl.
– Case study on databases in Hudson, Cultural Institutions, Law and Indigenous Knowledge: A Legal Primer on the Management of Australian Indigenous Collections (2006), available for free from www.ipria.org.
– Bound copies of each also available for purchase.