Free the Books » copyright

Woo-hoo! Jamie Boyle’s new book is out with a CC license!!

georgia harper — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:52:18 +0000

Go right now! The Public Domain – Enclosing the Commons of the Mind is out, it’s for sale and for free pdf download, with explanations of why downloading the whole book makes sense, not just to Jamie (well, duh), but to Yale University Press too. Go go go. We’ll talk about it later.

Symposium on Copyright Laws and Intellectual Monopolies

Matt — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:28:34 +0000

From Wednesday, May 28 through Friday, May 30th, the Center for Intellectual Property at the University of Maryland will be hosting the 8th Annual Intellectual Property Symposium at the UMUC Inn and Conference Center in Adelphi, Maryland.

This year’s symposium is titled MONOPOLY: PLAYING THE INNOVATION GAME. Three days of keynote addresses, panels, and round tables will address the conflicts resulting from the exclusive ownership and limited monopolies fostered by U.S. copyright laws and the technologies and practices that encourage sharing and collaboration.

The Center has invited an impressive line up of speakers and panelists including James Boyle, co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain and professor of law at Duke University School of Law as well as Georgia Harper, the CIP’s Intellectual Property Scholar (2006-08) and Scholarly Communications Advisor for the University of Texas at Austin Libraries. For a longer list of presenters with brief bios, browse the link at http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip/symposium/speakers.shtml

In addition the Center will host “The Institute for Copyright Leadership and Management,” which consists of pre- and post-conference seminars and workshops designed to help individuals or teams develop basic skills for effective leadership in copyright management while focusing on influencing skills and building strategic institutional partnerships and
bridges.

You may take advantage of the Early Bird registration fee, if you register before May 9th. The cost of the symposium is $350.00. For the Institute for Copyright Leadership and Management the cost is $900.00 per individual or $2,295.00 for a team of three.

Lodging is separate and runs $150 to $200.00 per night, depending on where you choose to stay.

Full symposium details may be found at http://www.umuc.edu/CIP2008 .

Another go at Orphan Works legislation

georgia harper — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:58:05 +0000

As I have indicated on many occasions, our work to determine public domain status of our digitized Benson volumes merges seamlessly into work to determine orphan work status. We pursue this inquiry even in the absence of legislative relief from the draconian penalties copyright law provides for infringement. I guess I feel strongly that one way or another, orphan works are going to find their way onto the Web for public access purposes, at least.

Two years ago, Representative Smith tried unsuccessfully to craft a bill that would deal with the issues. Now the effort is being undertaken anew. I blogged about it at Collectanea earlier today and would refer our readers there for links to other sites that are registering their optimism and concerns. A new bill has not yet been introduced, but it is reportedly going to be introduced as early as this week.