For folks working in scholarly communications, there are any number of challenges that must be faced on an almost daily basis.  For example, it is a given that everyone in this field has spent at least a few hours refining their two sentence or less stock description of fair use for non-lawyers.  Yet there is one issue that underlies and affects almost every other issue handled by scholarly communications staff:  getting people to care about copyright. Continue reading

Working in higher education, I have copyright conversations with a lot of very smart people.  These are folks who spend their lives educating others, spreading knowledge and wisdom as a career.  Which is why it’s so surprising when they are deeply misinformed about copyright law.

This often seems to stem from “institutional knowledge” passed down through the years.  Some of this information is incredibly helpful, but an unfortunately large percentage of it is downright wrong.  I have been working with copyright issues for just over a year, and have already heard more myths about fair use than I can count.

Where can folks go for quick straightforward copyright education, without legalese or confusing jargon?  And, most importantly, what sources can be relied upon to provide accurate copyright information?  This post lists out some of the resources that I found most helpful when starting out in copyright, and that can serve as helpful tools in dispelling copyright myths. Continue reading

If you follow our blog, you may have noticed moral rights come up in a few of our previous posts (“A Primer on Fearless Girl”, “Theories of copyright”, and “Copyright in Campaigns”).  You may have also noticed moral rights in recent communications from the U.S. Copyright Office.  Moral rights are not often raised in the United States, and with good reason.  Moral rights, as distinguished from economic rights, are given only partial protection under U.S. copyright law.  Here, we give an introduction to moral rights and help to distinguish them from economic rights.

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She’s not even five feet tall, but she has been causing quite a stir.  She is the Fearless Girl statue placed opposite the Charging Bull statue in New York’s financial district.  Her placement has caused a stir, not only for the crowds she draws, but also for the claims of copyright infringement raised by Arthur Di Modica, the creator of Charging Bull.

Charging Bull

Di Modica installed the 7,100-pound sculpture on December 15, 1989.  At the time, financial markets were down and the future of the economy was uncertain.  Di Modica created and installed the Charging Bull as a piece of unauthorized guerilla art, intending it to be a symbol of the “strength and power of the American people”.  The piece was inspired by the phrase “bull market”, which occurs when prices are going up and people are investing in stocks.  The piece became so popular that it now has a permanent home in the financial district, and has been there for almost 30 years.

Fearless Girl

At 50” tall, Fearless Girl, created by Kristen Visbal, is about as tall as your average 10-year-old.  Next to Charging Bull, the 250-pound sculpture looks tiny.  Fearless Girl, commissioned by State Street Global Advisors, an investment management firm known for its efforts to bring more gender diversity to financial leadership.  Installed March 7, 2017 (the day before International Women’s Day), the piece was intended to “celebrate the importance of having greater gender diversity in corporate boards and in company leadership positions.”  Currently, Fearless Girl has a one-year permit from the City of New York to remain opposite Charging Bull.

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