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"User Generated Content"
A new ruling came out last week in one of the most interesting cases involving appropriation art, the ongoing dispute between photographer Patrick Cariou and appropriation artist Richard Prince. I wrote about the unfortunate decision from the district court back in 2011, and on Thursday the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, [...]
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I was considering a post about copyright in tattoos even before I read about a recent case. This blog post raises some interesting questions about who owns the rights in a tattoo, and trying to answer them seemed like an interesting exercise; a chance, at least, to review some basic concepts.
Then I read [...]
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There has been a lot of attention paid to YouTube’s announcement of its “Copyright School,” which those accused of infringement will be forced to attend online. YouTube, of course, is trying to fend off more litigation, but that should not be an excuse for misrepresenting copyright law, as the new video that is part [...]
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How much control an author should have once a book leaves her hands is a fundamental question for copyright law. It arises in lots of contexts, but nowhere more directly than when a different author creates a sequel, a parody, or an homage and the original author objects.
This, of course, was the case with [...]
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On Wednesday the Duke Libraries’ Instruction and Outreach department held a retreat on the topic of “Digital Literacies.” The excellent keynote speaker for the event was Ellysa Cahoy from Penn State University. As part of the retreat, I spoke very briefly about copyright issues around the use of digital media. My comments ended up [...]
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By Will Cross
As a scholarly communications librarian I am naturally excited when scholars embrace a promising new method of communication. As such, I was delighted to see this new study published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Although academia is just scratching the surface of social media use, this study of almost 1,000 [...]
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On March 19th a fascinating symposium was held in Chapel Hill, NC in honor of Laura (Lolly) Gasaway. Lolly, for many years Professor & Law Librarian at UNC Chapel Hill and now Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, is a prolific scholar and has had a tremendous impact on how libraries understand and work [...]
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Earlier this month I was able, thanks to the organizing efforts of a colleague, to participate in a phone call with Jeff Shelstad, one of the founders of Flat World Knowledge. I wrote about Flat World some time ago, but I want to take the opportunity (before it fades in my mind) to describe [...]
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The most dangerous place on the Internet may well be inside that little button that says “I Agree.” The opportunity to bind oneself to a contract almost unconsciously abounds on the Internet, and the immediacy of the Web encourages click-through agreements that are almost never read and, if they are, impossible to understand.
The Electronic [...]
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As Duke University’s first Scholarly Communications Officer, Kevin Smith’s principal role is to teach and advise faculty, administrators and students about copyright, intellectual property licensing and scholarly publishing. 
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