From the monthly archives: July 2009

Orphan works, fair use and best practices

On July 30, 2009 By

All of the above are recurrent themes in copyright and scholarly communications these days, but a recent publication from the Society of American Archivists has put a little different spin, I think, on an ongoing conversation.

The SAA released a revised version of their Statement of Best Practices on Orphan Works on June [...]

Continue Reading →

Books in the cloud

On July 26, 2009 By

There have been lots of reports flying around recently about the decision by Amazon to delete copies of two works by George Orwell (ironic, that) from the Kindle devices of folks who thought they had bought those books for once and for all time.   There on reports and comments about this here,

Continue Reading →

The elements of an open access quiz

On July 22, 2009 By

When I was a first-year law student, my professor for Torts used to threaten to call us up at 3 am and demand that, before we were fully awake, we be able to recite the elements of a negligence claim – duty, breach, causation and harm (thanks, Prof. Darling).  I was reminded of [...]

Continue Reading →

That pesky checklist

On July 19, 2009 By

The recent flurry of activity in the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by publishers against Georgia State University has focused attention – mine, at least – on the “Fair Use Checklist” that has been adopted for use in quite a number of college and university copyright policies.  As part of the mini-controversy over the naming [...]

Continue Reading →

A sequel on Salinger

On July 15, 2009 By

In a comment about my previous post concerning the decision to grant a preliminary injunction in the Salinger case, effectively banning US publication of a story about Holden Caulfield 6o years later, the writer took me to task, quite harshly but with some justification, for my cursory and sweeping denunciation of the decision.  My [...]

Continue Reading →

I’m just a bill (and a “sourcebook”)

On July 12, 2009 By

Open access advocates (of which I am one) were heartened last month when the Federal Research Public Access Act, known as FRPAA (S. 1373) and not to be confused with FERPA, was reintroduced into the 111th Congress.  The bill, which would mandate public access to research funded by many federal agencies, made considerable progress [...]

Continue Reading →

Can a “batty” ruling effect needed change?

On July 7, 2009 By

It is thoroughly unbelievable news that US District Court Judge Deborah Batts has issued a permanent injunction against the US publication of a book that purports to update the story of Holden Caufield, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.”  The new book, written by Swedish author Fredrik Colting and already [...]

Continue Reading →

Intersting development in Georgia State case

On July 1, 2009 By

The copyright infringement lawsuit brought against Georgia State University by three major publishers has been in a relatively quiet phase recently.  Discovery, the process of gathering evidence and deposing witnesses, can be very dramatic, in fact, and decisions made during that phase of a trial can do much to determine who wins and who loses.  [...]

Continue Reading →