dpla exhibitions:questions about copyright
TRANSCRIPT
DPLA Exhibitions:Questions about copyright
Katie Fortney@kfortneyOctober 1, 2014
Copyright? Isn’t everything in
DPLA in the public domain?
Well why is it on the
internet then?
I should be able to
use it too, right?
I. What’s protected by copyright?What isn’t?
Copyright expires.
• Based on publication date
• Based on when the author died
https://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm
Public domain= forever. Mostly.
But see
• http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Golan_v._Holder
• https://www.eff.org/de
eplinks/2012/01/supre
me-court-gets-it-
wrong-golan-v-holder-
public-domain-mourns
What qualifies in the first place?
“…original works of authorship fixed
in any tangible medium of
expression…”*
Photos and art produced by
humans will almost always qualify.
*You can read U.S. copyright law at www.copyright.gov/title17. That
quote is from Section 102.
Some things aren’t eligible for protection in the first place.
• US federal government works
• Ideas
• Facts
• Insufficient authorshipSee sections 102 & 105
• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Threshold_of_originality#United_States
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_of_originality
Thinking about authorshipand the threshold of originality
Case study:Exact copies of public domain
works aren’t protected.
• Bridgeman Art Library case
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman_A
rt_Library_v._Corel_Corp.
• Articles for further reading:– http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/2011/06/27/cop
yright-museums-and-licensing-of-art-images/
Exact copies of public domain works
Different approaches from different
archives• The Getty Open Content Program
• The Commons on Flickr
– Smithsonian, Internet Archive, NASA, etc.
• Folger Shakespeare Library (CC BY-NC-SA)
• The Met’s Open Access for Scholarly
Content
II. Protected by copyright,part of DPLA:
How does that work?
Copyright law gives copyright holders exclusive rights.
(See section 106)
But:
• They can grant permission.
• Their rights have limitations.
Creative Commons licenses are a way to give
broad, general permission
• Require giving credit
• Author keeps copyright ownership
• Widely used (for all kinds of content)
• Machine readable
• Six different licenses to choose from
Keys, USS Bowfin by Joseph Novak CC BY http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephleenovak/5559755789/
CC BY: Attribution
Bare bones by Caroline CC BY http://www.flickr.com/photos/hills_alive/8511444405/
The NonCommercial (NC) Restriction
• E.g. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode
• Some debate about what counts as “commercial”
• “not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation”
Forex Money for Exchange in Currency Bank by epSos.de CC BY http://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/8463683689/
The No Derivative Works (ND) Restriction
• E.g. http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nd/4.0/legalcode
• No “translation,
adaptation, derivative
work,” etc.
• Inclusions in
collections and
anthologies still
allowed.
Building Blocks by tiffany terry CC BY http://www.flickr.com/photos/35168673@N03/6086229920/
The ShareAlike (SA) Restriction
• E.g. http://creativecommons.o
rg/licenses/by-
sa/4.0/legalcode
• Applies to
Adaptations, but
not Collections
Photo by Katie Fortney
Different combinations
6 licenses
Stone balancing! by Giles Turnbull CC BY-NC http://www.flickr.com/photos/gilest/132093750/
Not everything in DPLA is going to be that clear and friendly.
Fair use is flexible. Fair use is the law.
Fair use, including for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research, is not an infringement. Factors to be considered include:
(1) the purpose and character of your use;
(2) the nature of the work you’re using (not your new work);
(3) the amount/substantiality used;
(4) the effect of your use on the market for the work you’re using.
- see 17 U.S. Code § 107
Courts will always walk through the 4 factors.
But there are other approaches to help you think through it.
1. Did the use “transform” the material taken from the copyrighted work by using it for a broadly beneficial purpose different from that of the original?
2. Was the material taken appropriate in kind and amount?
Copyright comes from the Constitution.
“To promote the Progress of Science
and useful Arts, by securing for limited
Times to Authors and Inventors the
exclusive Right to their respective
Writings and Discoveries”
-Article I, Section 8, Clause 8
Learn more about fair use. It’s fun.
• ARL Code:
http://www.arl.org/fairuse
• List of common misunderstandings
about fair use:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_us
e#Common_misunderstandings
• ALA OITP “Fair Use Evaluator:”
http://librarycopyright.net/resourc
es/fairuse/
• University of Minnesota “Thinking
Through Fair Use:”
https://www.lib.umn.edu/copyright/fairthoughts
III. But can *I* use it?
Clear answers are easier for everybody.
Today streamline.Tomorrow, balance risk and reward.
• Copyright Risk
Management in RLI 279
http://publications.arl.org/r
li279/17
• OCLC “Well Intentioned
Practice”
documenthttp://oclc.org/r
esearch/activities/rights/su
pport.html
• Orphan works best
practices (forthcoming)
Questions?