Creative Commons and Libraries:A Copyright Solution?Gretchen SauveyBridging the Spectrum SymposiumJanuary 30, 2009

What is Creative Commons?

Background

The Licenses

Origins of Creative Commons

•“Copyleft” - open source/free software

•1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

•Eldred v. Ashcroft ▫ Lawrence Lessig

•Creative works unlocked - available for use

The Creative Commons License

•Three parts to each license:▫License Deed▫Machine-readable Code▫Legal Code

•Four conditions to chose from:▫Attribution - standard part of all licenses▫Sharing▫Commercial Use▫Derivatives

Machine-Readable Code:

<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.

Licenses and Copyright

Libraries and licenses

The -wrap licenses

CC and Copyright

Licenses and more licenses•From 1995-2004 librarians reported

negotiating 12 times the number of license agreements

•Each of those covers hundreds or thousands of individual items - each CC license covers only one thing

•Currently there are six standard CC licenses▫some are contradictory to each other▫3 versions, number is increasing

Are they legal?

•EULAs▫ Shrink-wrap or click-wrap licenses (active)▫ Browse-wrap or web-wrap licenses

(passive)

•ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg•Specht v. Netscape Communications

Corporation

What about copyright?

•Not a challenge to copyright law▫ CC relies on copyright law for enforcement

•“Fair Dealing” language in licenses ▫ Fair Use and Section 8 are still available

•License expires when the copyright does▫ works still enter public domain

•Shift from copyright law to contract law

Libraries and Creative CommonsIssues to consider

Education

Participation

Creative Commons Risks

•Fair Use - use it or lose it

•Contracts on behalf of users

•UCITA and the ALA

Educate and Participate

•Need to educate librarians and users about the licenses - what they are, how they work▫Flickr/Virgin Mobile case

•An opportunity to talk about copyright law and influence public opinion

•As efforts like this one move forward librarians need to be a part of the development process

Conclusions

•Are Creative Commons licenses good or bad?

•We need more discussion about the state of copyright protections.

•Librarians need to be aware of what’s happening and involved in the conversation.

For more information…•creativecommons.org•wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons•ALA’s UCITA information page

▫http://tiny.cc/ALA_UCITA

Questions? Comments? Please contact me at:gsauvey@gmail.com