Romance of Public Domain in Legal Research: An Awareness Study about Free Access to Legal Resources

among Users of Select Law Libraries in Delhi 

Akash Assistant Librarian

National Law University Delhi

Public Domain

Public Domain

• Origin

• Concept

• Initiatives

o Came into existence from ancient England and American culture

o Public Domain was that part of land which was not under any proprietorship of any person

o Free land and could be used by any person for social purposes

o Maintained under municipalities as facilitated for public use

Public Domain

• Origin

• Concept

• Initiatives

o Conceptualized as works not protected by copyright

o For which copyright has expiredo May be printed for distribution and sale,

quoted, excerpted, reproduced, and made available online to the public without infringement

o A government document over which an agency decides not to exercise copyright in order to make its content widely known.

Public Domain

• Origin

• Concept

• Initiatives

o Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) (2001)

o Montreal Declaration, Free Access to Law Movement (2002)

o Bethesda Statement’(2003)o Berlin Declaration. (2003)o UNESCO Policy Guidelines for the

Development and Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information (2004).

o Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Declaration (2004).

o Brazil Salvador Declaration(2005)

Public Domain & Copyright

• United State copyright act explains, Public domain as any work for which the copyright bas expired and not been renewed, any work that was published prior to 1923, work produced by the US government and other specific governments, work that is donated to public domain, or any other work arrive in the public domain:

Expiration of copyright: Where the copyright has expired Failure to renew copyright: Where the owner failed to follow

copyright renewal rules. Dedication: Where the owner deliberately places it in the public

domain. No Copyright protection available: Where copyright law does not

protect this type of work.

UNESCO Initiative towards Governmental Public Domain Information

“Public domain information refers to publicly accessible information, the use of which does not infringe any legal right, or any obligation of confidentiality. It thus refers on the one hand to the realm of all works or objects of related rights, which can be exploited by everybody without any authorization, for instance because protection is not granted under national or international law, or because of the expiration of the term of protection. It refers on the other hand to public data and official information produced and voluntarily made available by governments or international organizations.

UHLIR, Paul f. (2004). Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information.- Paris: UNESCO-viii, 39.

Why the Study

• To find the awareness about the availability of Public Domain Legal Resources among law library users.

• To analyze the usage of legal resources in public domain by the user of law libraries.

• To Know the facilitation programmes /user orientation programmes designed by law libraries for awareness of Public Domain Resources.

• To suggest strategies for promotion and optimum access of information in public domain by libraries as an alternative to commercial databases.

Research Methodology

Questionnaire Circulated Response Received Per Cent

300 260 86.6%

Web links of Public Domain

Apex Courts Judgments International Court JudgmentsAustralia High Court Judgmentswww.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCACanada Supreme Court Judgmentswww.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/index.html South Africa Constitutional of Courtwww.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/judgments/judgments.htmSupreme Court of Indian and Indian High Court Judgmentww.judis.nic.in/Supreme Court of India and Indian High Court Judgmentwww.judis.nic.in/Supreme Court of United Kingdomwww.supremecourt.gov.uk/decided-cases/index.htmlUS Supreme Court Judgmentswww.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/opinions.html

International Court of Justice www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=2European Court of Human Rightshttp://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/search.asp?skin=hudoc-enEuropean Court of Justicehttp://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/

Legislations/Acts/Statutes Law Reform ReportsCommonwealth of Australia Consolidated Actwww.austlii.ed.aw/au/legis/cth/consol act/Consolidated Statute of Canadawww.canlii.org/en/India Code Text Basewww.indiacode.nic.inUK Statutewww.statutelaw.gov.ukUnited States Codehttp://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/browse.html

International Law Commissionhttp://www.un.org/law/ilc/index.htmLaw Commission of India http://www.lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/ Law Commission of United Kingdomhttp://www.lawcom.gov.uk/Law Commission of New Zealandhttp://www.lawcom.govt.nz/Australian Law Reforms Commissionhttp://www.alrc.gov.au/

Web links of Public DomainOpen Access Indian Journals Open Access International Journals

ILI Law Review http://www.ili.ac.in/lawreview.htm/Indian Journal of Constitutional Lawhttp://www.liiofindia.org/in/journals/INJlConLaw/Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Rightshttp://www.liiofindia.org/in/journals/INJlIPLaw/Indian Journal of Law & Technologyhttp://www.liiofindia.org/in/journals/INJlLawTech/Journal of Intellectual Property Rightshttp://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/45Mainstream Weeklywww.mainstreamweekly.net/NALSAR Law Reviewhttp://www.liiofindia.org/in/journals/NALSARLawRw/NALSAR Students Law Reviewhttp://www.nalsarstudentlawreview.com/

California Law Reviewhttp://www.californialawreview.org/issuesCornell International Law Journalhttp://organizations.lawschool.cornell.edu/ilj/Duke Law Journalhttp://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dlj/indexHarvard Human Rights Journalhttp://harvardhrj.com/Harvard International Reviewhttp://www.hg.org/redir.asp?url=http://www.hir.harvard.edu/Harvard Law Reviewhttp://www.harvardlawreview.org/index.phpLaw and Contemporary Problemshttp://www.law.duke.edu/journals/lcp/Yale Law Journalhttp://www.yalelawjournal.org/current-issue.html

Human Rights Commissions Websites Open Access DatabasesAsian Human Rights Commission http://ahrchk.net/Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHCR)http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/Human Rights And Equal Opportunity Commission (Australia)http://www.hreoc.gov.au/ National Human Rights Commission (India)http://nhrc.nic.in/United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR)http://www.ohch

Social Science Research Networkhttp://www.ssrn.comGlobal Legal Information Network http://www.glin.gov/search.actionFind Lawhttp://www.findlaw.com/

Free Access to Legal Resources among Users of Select Law Libraries in Delhi: A Study

Free Access to Legal Resources among Users of Select Law Libraries in Delhi: A Study

Free Access to Legal Resources among Users of Select Law Libraries in Delhi: A Study

Research Findings o USE OF PUBLIC DOMAIN resources by law professionals by various means

including open access through search engines, governmental websites, institutional websites and NGOs web portals.

o Most of the total population (87.7 per cent) SEARCH PUBLIC DOMAIN INFORMATION BY THE HELP OF OPEN ACCESS SEARCH ENGINES.

o 73.1 per cent of the total POPULATION KNOWS ABOUT THE AVAILABILITY OF LEGAL INFORMATION ON GOVERNMENT WEBSITES which is a good response to encourage governmental bodies to provide more information on its web portals.

o Users are NOT MUCH AWARE about the availability of CASE LAW of apex courts of select countries. However, Majority of user population knows about the availability of case laws of Indian Supreme Court and High Courts through JUDIS Judgment Information system (80 per cent).

Research Findings

o USERS KNOW LESS ABOUT THE AVAILABILITY OF LEGISLATION of select countries in public domain through free access web portal. But it is also revealed that law professionals aware of text of Indian legislation with India Code (59.6 per cent).

o Majority of law professionals DO NOT USE FREE LEGAL JOURNALS and scholarship published outside and within India. However, Harvard Law Review is used through open access portal of Harvard University by majority of law professionals (53.1 per cent). Out of Indian open access law journals, ILI Law Review is much popular among law professionals (71.5 per cent).

o Less than 50 PER CENT OF THE LAW PROFESSIONAL USE FREE ACCESSIBLE DATABASES supporting legal journals and scholarship viz. Social Science Research Network, Global Legal Information Network and Find Law.

Users’ View in Support of Public Domain Legal Resources

o PDRs support EASY ACCESS to the SEARCH IN COMBINATION of case law or legal articles and it CAN BE USED FROM ANYWHERE around the world.

o PDRs contain much valuable information and links to various websites including articles and cases.

o The AMOUNT OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM THEM IS MORE than what is available in paid databases. Public Domain Resources contain valuable information and material is easily available.

o PDRs have an edge of EASY TO ACCESS. Though commercial databases offer more ease of access, the vast amount of Public Domain Resources are with hands down.

o PDRs are carrying INSUFFICIENT DATA compared to the commercial ones. They are sometimes unreliable also.

o PDRs are DEFICIENT due to no TIMELY UPDATION, no effective search options and sometimes difficult in downloading.

o It is very TEDIOUS PROCESS TO SEARCH in PDRs and many databases available in Public Domain Resources are not freely or easily available.

o PDRs are DEFICIENT IN THE EXTENT OF COVERAGE but government websites provide authentic information for research.

o PDRs do NOT PROVIDE REFINED and QUALITATIVE RESEARCH material

Users’ View not Supporting Public Domain Legal Resources

Conclusion

Librarians have a greater responsibility to disseminate the presence of free access resources. A well planned and information rich library orientation programme containing information over best possible relevant free resources, is the best way to inculcate information digging habits of the users from the universe of digital knowledge. Librarians should adhere to communicate about free open access resources generated out of public fund by public and voluntary agencies.