Copyright and EMu:Some thoughts on using the

rights module

Emily Hudson

e.hudson@unimelb.edu.au5th 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.