dpla exhibitions:questions about copyright

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?

http://www.deanfarr.com/viz/rights.php

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?