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Articles of Interest: July-December 2018

This post highlights articles published in the second half of 2018 with a focus on copyright, especially as it pertains to libraries, higher education, and scholarly communication. Links to the full-text articles are provided when available; [OSU full-text] links will connect authenticated users through The Ohio State University Libraries, while [OA full-text] links point to an open access version of the article that should be available to all users.

Did we miss an interesting article? Please share the citation in the comments!

Copyright

Boettcher, J. C. & Dames, K. M. (2018). Government Data as Intellectual Property: Is Public Domain the same as Open Access? Online Searcher, 42(4), 42–48. [OSU full text]

Charlton, J. (2018). New European Copyright Directive Courts Controversy. Information Today, 35(9), 15. [OSU full text]

Christou, C. (2018). Where to Learn About Copyright. Information Today, 35(7), 1–27. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Courtney, K. K. (2018). The state copyright conundrum: What’s your state government’s rule on copyright? College & Research Libraries News, 79(10), 571–574. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Ensign, D. (2018). Copyright Corner: Blockchain and Copyright. Kentucky Libraries, 82(3), 4–5. [OSU full text]

Pike, G. H. (2018). Who Owns the Law? Information Today, 35(6), 18. [OSU full text]

Teixeira da Silva, J. A. (2018). The Issue of Comment Ownership and Copyright at PubPeer. Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences, 55(2), 1–15. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Wingo, R. S., Logsdon, A., & Schommer, C. (2018). Going viral: Copyright lessons from Max the Cat. College & Research Libraries News, 79(7/8), 350–353. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Libraries

Capell, L. and Williams, E., 2018. Implementing RightsStatements.org at the University of Miami Libraries. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 6(1), p.eP2254. doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2254 [OA full text]

Ensign, D. (2018). Copyright Corner: Public Lending Rights. Kentucky Libraries, 82(4), 2–3. [OSU full text]

Hansen, D. R., & Courtney, K. K. (2018, September 24). A White Paper on Controlled Digital Lending of Library Books. doi.org/10.31228/osf.io/7fdyr [OA full text]

Radniecki, T. (2018). Intellectual Property in the Makerspace. Journal of Library Administration, 58(6), 545–560. doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2018.1491178 [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Publishing & Scholarly Communication

Bolick, J. (2018). Leveraging Elsevier’s Creative Commons License Requirement to Undermine Embargoes. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship, 2(2), 1-19. doi.org/10.17161/jcel.v2i2.7415 [OA full text]

Herr, M., 2018. The Rights Provisions of a Book Publishing Contract. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 6(1), p.eP2273. doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2273 [OA full text]

Kohn, A. and Lange, J., 2018. Confused about copyright? Assessing Researchers’ Comprehension of Copyright Transfer Agreements. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 6(1), p.eP2253. doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2253 [OA full text]

Lewis, C. (2018). The Open Access Citation Advantage: Does It Exist and What Does It Mean for Libraries? Information Technology & Libraries, 37(3), 50–65. doi.org/10.6017/ital.v37i3.10604 [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Xu, H. (2018). Obstacles for Faculty using Open Educational Resources and Solutions. Texas Library Journal, 94(3), 85–87. [OSU full text]

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By Maria Scheid, Copyright Services Coordinator at Copyright Services, The Ohio State University Libraries.

Articles of Interest: January-June 2018

July 13, 2018 / Maria Scheid / Comments Off

This post highlights articles published in the first half of 2018 with a focus on copyright, especially as it pertains to libraries, higher education, and scholarly communication. Links to the full-text articles are provided when available; [OSU full-text] links will connect authenticated users through The Ohio State University Libraries, while [OA full-text] links point to an open access version of the article that should be available to all users.

Did we miss an interesting article? Please share the citation in the comments!

Copyright

Benson, S. R. (2018). Sports uniforms and copyright: Implication for applied art educators from the Star Athletica decision. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship, 2(1), 1–7. doi:10.17161/jcel.v2i1.6575 [OA full text]

Carlstone, J., Stein, A., Norman, M., & Wilkin, J. (2018) Copyright renewal of U.S. books published in 1932: Re-analyzing Ringer’s study to determine a more accurate renewal rate for books. College & Research Libraries, [S.l.], v. 79, n. 5, p. 697. doi:10.5860/crl.79.5.697. [OA full text]

Harbeson, E. J. (2018). Bridge over Bridgeport: An incremental change in case law of sampling. ARSC Journal 49(1), 41–46. [OA full text]

Pike, G. H. (2018). Legal limits to linking challenge social media. Online Searcher, 42(3), 36-38. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Willi Hooper, M. (2018). Copyright for movie night: Film screenings on campus. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship, 2(1), 1–17. doi:10.17161/jcel.v2i1.6576 [OA full text]

Legislation & Policy Developments

Hines, S., & Russell, C. (2018). Washington Hotline: Music copyright legislation proceeding. College & Research Libraries News, 79(4), 205. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Peet, L. (2018). Marrakesh Treaty Act introduced. Library Journal, 143(7), 10-11. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Libraries

Algenio, E. (2018). Making the transition as the new copyright librarian. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship, 2(1), 1–24. doi:10.17161/jcel.v2i1.6579 [OA full text]

Ensign, D. (2018). Copyright Corner: Library reproduction and distribution of older copyrighted materials. Kentucky Libraries, 82(1), 2-3. [OSU full text]

Goben, A., & Doubleday, A.F. (2018). Copyright in the health sciences literature: A narrative review. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship, 2(2), 1-26 . doi:10.17161/jcel.v2i2.6654 [OA full text]

Lewin-Lane, S., Dethloff, N., Grob, J, Townes, A., & Lierman, A. (2018). The search for a service model of copyright best practices in academic libraries. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship, 2(2), 1-25. doi:10.17161/jcel.v2i2.6713 [OA full text]

Thomas, C. (2018). In depth: Interactive copyright education for 3D objects. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship, 2(1), 1–17. doi:10.17161/jcel.v2i1.6577 [OA full text]

Publishing & Scholarly Communication

Charlton, J. (2018). Elsevier negotiations still in limbo. Information Today, 35(2), 8. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Greco, A. N. (2018). The scholarly publishing community should support changes to US copyright law. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 49(2), 248-259. doi:10.3138/jsp.49.2.248 [OSU full text]

Lipinski, T. A., & Kritikos, K. C. (2018). How open access policies affect access to grey literature in university digital repositories: A case study of iSchools. Grey Journal (TGJ), 14(1), 6-20. [OSU full text]

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By Maria Scheid, Copyright Services Coordinator at Copyright Services, The Ohio State University Libraries.

Articles of Interest: July-December 2017

January 19, 2018 / Maria Scheid / Comments Off

This post highlights articles published in the second half of 2017 with a focus on copyright, especially as it pertains to libraries, higher education, and scholarly communication. Links to the full-text articles are provided when available; [OSU full-text] links will connect authenticated users through The Ohio State University Libraries, while [OA full-text] links point to an open access version of the article that should be available to all users.

Did we miss an interesting article? Please share the citation in the comments!

Copyright

Bailey, J. (2017). How Copyright Law Works for YouTube. Copyright & New Media Law, 21(4), 5-7. [OSU full-text]

Christou, C. (2017). Copyright in 2018. Information Today, 34(10), Cover-29. [OSU full-text] / [OA full-text]

McCord, G. (2017). A Few Secrets About Fair Use. Copyright & New Media Law, 21(4), 8-10. [OSU full-text]

Myers, C., Taylor, T., & Wesolek, A. (2017). An Interview with Peter Jaszi, Professor of Law, Faculty Director of the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship. 2(1), 1‒8. doi.org/10.17161/jcel.v1i2.6970. [OA full-text]

Perez, J. E. (2017). Images and the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement. Reference Librarian, 58(4), 229-237. doi:10.1080/02763877.2017.1346495. [OA full-text]

Pike, G. H. (2017). NAFTA and its IP provisions at risk. Information Today, 34(10), 18. [OSU full-text]

Russell, C. (2017). The latest on H.R. 1695/S. 1010. College & Research Libraries News, 78(7), 398. [OSU full-text] / [OA full-text]

Libraries

Butler, B., & Russell, C. (2017). Section 108 revision: Nothing new under the sun. Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship. 2(1), 1‒37. doi.org/10.17161/jcel.v1i2.6972. [OA full-text]

Oltmann, S. s. (2017). Intellectual freedom in academic libraries: Surveying deans about its significance. College & Research Libraries, 78(6), 741-760. [OSU full-text] / [OA full-text]

Vargas, M.A., & Bright, J. (2017). Rev your engines: Racing ahead with mass digitization. Computers In Libraries, 37(7), 4-8. [OSU full-text]

Publishing & Scholarly Communication

Narayan, B., & Luca, E. (2017). Issues and challenges in researchers’ adoption of open access and institutional repositories: a contextual study of a university repository. Information Research, 22(4), 1-14. [OSU full-text] / [OA full-text]

Sterman, L. (2017). The enemy of the good: How specifics in publisher’s green OA policies are bogging down IR deposits of scholarly literature. College & Research Libraries News, 78(7), 372-401. [OSU full-text] / [OA full-text]

Yeates, S. (2017). After Beall’s ‘List of predatory publishers’: Problems with the list and paths forward. Information Research, 22(4), 1-6. [OSU full-text] / [OA full-text]

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By Maria Scheid, Copyright Services Specialist at Copyright Services, The Ohio State University Libraries

Copyright in CarmenCanvas Guide: New resource demonstrates best practices for sharing copyrighted content in Carmen courses

October 3, 2017 / Maria Scheid / Comments Off

Does your course include movies, text, pictures, or audio that you did not create? Are you planning to share materials you created with your students? To help instructors in the creation of their Carmen courses, we’ve put together the Copyright in CarmenCanvas Guide. It will help readers understand copyright law, specifically in the context of creating Carmen courses. While it is not legal advice, it is both a wealth of information and a multi-media demonstration of copyright best practices for sharing content through Carmen.

Readers can begin with the syllabus, gaining a topical overview of the information in each module of the Guide. The modules in the Guide are in order from most open (materials that may be used in a course without copyright limitation), to most restrictive (materials and uses that will require permission from the copyright owner). Each module begins with an introduction page describing the topics to be discussed in the module. After the introduction, each page within a module contains an explanation and one or more demonstrations of best practices relevant to the topic at issue. A listing of helpful resources is also included within each page, for those seeking more information on the topic. The introduction page of the Guide provides additional resources for those who wish to improve their general understanding of copyright and related issues.

Modules do not need to be completed in any particular order. However, we do encourage readers to explore all the modules to become familiar with the many options available to course creators as they pull content into their courses.

Whether a reader visits one page, or reviews the entire Copyright in CarmenCanvas Guide, it is a great resource for anyone creating courses at The Ohio State University.

Contact our office with additional questions.

Website: go.osu.edu/copyright

Email: LIBCopyright@osu.edu

Twitter: @OSUCopyright

Phone: 614-688-5849

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By Maria Scheid, Rights Management Specialist at Copyright Services, The Ohio State University Libraries

Articles of Interest: January-June 2017

July 7, 2017 / Maria Scheid / Comments Off

This post highlights articles published in the first half of 2017 with a focus on copyright, especially as it pertains to libraries, higher education, and scholarly communication. Links to the full-text articles are provided when available; [OSU full-text] links will connect authenticated users through The Ohio State University Libraries, while [OA full-text] links point to an open access version of the article that should be available to all users.

Did we miss an interesting article? Please share the citation in the comments!

Copyright

Clobridge, A. (2017). The ins and outs of open licenses. Online Searcher, 41(2), 62-65. [OSU full text]

Fernández-Molina, J., Moraes, J. E., & Guimarães, J. C. (2017). Academic libraries and copyright: Do librarians really have the required knowledge? College & Research Libraries, 78(2), 241-259. doi:10.5860/crl.78.2.241. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Harbeson, E. (2017). The Story So Far: Recap and Update on Flo & Eddie. ARSC Journal, 48(1), 43-49. [OSU full text]

Pike, G. H. (2017). Influence and Independence: Intrigue and the direction of the Copyright Office. Information Today, 34(1), 21. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Wilkin, J. P. (2017). How large is the “Public Domain”? A comparative analysis of Ringer’s 1961 Copyright Renewal Study and HathiTrust CRMS data. College & Research Libraries, 78(2), 201-218. doi:10.5860/crl.78.2.201. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Legislation & Policy Developments

Ayris, P. (2017). Brexit – and its potential impact for open access in the UK. Insights: The UKSG Journal, 30(1), 4-10. doi:10.1629/uksg.336. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Benson, S. R. (2017). Keep copyright in the library: Why the Copyright Office belongs in the Library of Congress. American Libraries, 48(5), 20. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Peet, L. (2017). Experts on next Register of Copyrights. Library Journal, 142(3), 14-17. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Libraries

Benson, S. R. (2017). Interpreting Fair Use for Academic Librarians: Thinking Beyond the Scope of the Circular 21 Guidelines. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 43(2), 105-107. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2017.02.001 [OA full text]

Borchard, L., & Magnuson, L. (2017). Library leadership in open educational resource adoption and affordable learning initiatives. Urban Library Journal, 23(1), 1-13. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Sims, N. (2017). Rights, ethics, accuracy, and open licenses in online collections. College & Research Libraries News, 78(2), 79-82. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Tay Pek, S., Lim Heng, G., Ghani Azmi, I. A., & Sik Cheng, P. (2017). The impact of copyright law on the digitization of library collections in academic libraries in Malaysia. Malaysian Journal Of Library & Information Science, 22(1), 83-97. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Publishing & Scholarly Communication

Badke, W. (2017). Sci-Hub and the researcher. Online Searcher, 41(2), 56-58. [OSU full text]

Gardner, C. c., & Gardner, G. g. (2017). Fast and Furious (at Publishers): The motivations behind crowdsourced research sharing. College & Research Libraries, 78(2), 131-149. [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

Myška, M. (2017). Text and data mining of grey literature for the purpose of scientific research. Grey Journal (TGJ), 1332-37. [OSU full text]

Rowley, J., Johnson, F., Sbaffi, L., Frass, W., & Devine, E. (2017). Academics’ behaviors and attitudes towards open access publishing in scholarly journals. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 68(5), 1201-1211. doi:10.1002/ASI.23710 [OA full text] / [OSU full text]

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By Maria Scheid, Rights Management Specialist at the Copyright Resources Center, The Ohio State University Libraries

Articles of Interest: July-December 2016

February 9, 2017 / Maria Scheid / 1 Comment

This post highlights articles published in the second half of 2016 with a focus on copyright, especially as it pertains to libraries, higher education, and scholarly communication. Links to the full-text articles are provided when available; [OSU full-text] links will connect authenticated users through The Ohio State University Libraries, while [OA full-text] links point to an open access version of the article that should be available to all users.

Did we miss an interesting article? Please share the citation!

Copyright

Bailey, L. (2016). How Copyright Law is Promoting Cultural Amnesia. Copyright & New Media Law, 20(2), 1-5. [OSU full text]

Kristof, C. (2016). Data and Copyright. Bulletin Of The Association For Information Science & Technology, 42(6), 20-22. [OA full text]

Matulionyte, R. (2016). 10 years for Google Books and Europeana: copyright law lessons that the EU could learn from the USA. International Journal Of Law & Information Technology, 24(1), 44-71. doi:10.1093/ijlit/eav018 [OA full text]

Menard, G. (2016). Copyright, digital sharing, and the liberal order: sociolegal constructions of intellectual property in the era of mass digitization. Information, Communication & Society, 19(8), 1061-1076. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2015.1069872. [OSU full text]

Price, D. (2016). Stop Using Our Songs!. Copyright & New Media Law, 20(3), 5-9. [OSU full text]

Reymond, M. J. (2016). Lenz v Universal Music Corp : Much ado about nothing? International Journal Of Law & Information Technology, 24(2), 119-127. doi:10.1093/ijlit/eav021 [OA full text]

Tehranian, J. (2016). Constitutionalizing Infringement: Balancing Copyright and Free Speech. Copyright & New Media Law, 20(3), 1-4. [OSU full text]

Copyright Education

Estell, A., & Saunders, L. (2016). Librarian Copyright Literacy: Self-Reported Copyright Knowledge Among Information Professionals in the United States. Public Services Quarterly, 12(3), 214-227. doi:10.1080/15228959.2016.1184997 [OA full text]

Jaszi, P., Remington, M., Ivins, O., & Dyas-Correia, S. (2016). Copyright and Intellectual Property: What You Need to Know. Serials Librarian, 70(1-4), 34-43. [OA full text]

Libraries

Ensign, D. (2016). What is Kirtsaeng and Why You Should Care. Kentucky Libraries, 80(3), 27-28. [OSU full text]

farrelly, d. (2016). VHS Copyright and Due Diligence. Library Journal, 141(20), 16. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Miller, R., & Homol, L. (2016). Building an Online Curriculum Based on OERs: The Library’s Role. Journal Of Library & Information Services In Distance Learning, 103(3/4), 349-359. doi:10.1080/1533290X.2016.1223957 [OSU full text]

Peet, L. (2016). Sci-Hub Sparks Critique of Librarian. Library Journal, 141(15), 14-17. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Publishing & Scholarly Communication

Bennett, L., & Flanagan, D. (2016). Measuring the impact of digitized theses: a case study from the London School of Economics. Insights: The UKSG Journal, 29(2), 111-119. doi:10.1629/uksg.300 [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Laakso, M., & Lindman, J. (2016). Journal copyright restrictions and actual open access availability: a study of articles published in eight top information systems journals (2010-2014). Scientometrics, 109(2), 1167-1189. doi:10.1007/s11192-016-2078-z [OA full text]

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By Maria Scheid, Rights Management Specialist at the Copyright Resources Center, The Ohio State University Libraries

Articles of Interest: January-June 2016

August 19, 2016 / Maria Scheid / Comments Off

This post highlights articles published in the first half of 2016 with a focus on copyright, especially as it pertains to libraries, higher education, and scholarly communication. Links to the full-text articles are provided when available; [OSU full-text] links will connect authenticated users through The Ohio State University Libraries, while [OA full-text] links point to an open access version of the article that should be available to all users.

Did we miss an interesting article? Please share the citation in the comments!

Copyright

Albanese, A. (2016). Google case ends, but copyright fight goes on. Publishers Weekly, 263(17), 4-6. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Aufderheide, P., & Sinnreich, A. (2016). Documentarians, fair use, and free expression: Changes in copyright attitudes and actions with access to best practices. Information, Communication & Society, 19(2), 178-187. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2015.1050050 [OSU full text]

Hellyer, P. (2016). Who owns this article? Applying copyright’s work-made-for-hire doctrine to librarians’ scholarship. Law Library Journal, 108(1), 33-54. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Hess, J., Nann, A., & Riddle, K. (2016) Navigating OER: The library’s role in bringing OER to campus. The Serials Librarian, 70:1-4, 128-134. doi:10.1080/0361526X.2016.1153326 [OSU full text]

Pike, G. H. (2016). Trans-Pacific Partnership: The devil in the details. Information Today, 33(1), 1-25. [OSU full text]

Libraries

Banks, M. (2016). What Sci-Hub is and why it matters. American Libraries, 47(6), 46-48. [OSU full text]

Dygert, C., & Barrett, H. (2016) Building your licensing and negotiation skills toolkit. The Serials Librarian, 70:1-4, 333-342. doi: 10.1080/0361526X.2016.1157008 [OSU full text]

Enis, M. (2016). Please rewind. Library Journal, 141(10), 45-47. [OSU full text]

Finley, T. K. (2016). The impact of 3D printing services on library stakeholders: A case study. Public Services Quarterly, 12(2), 152-163. doi:10.1080/15228959.2016.1160808 [OSU full text]

Graham, R. G. (2016). An Evidence-Informed Picture of Course-Related Copying. College & Research Libraries, 77(3), 335-358. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Lipinski, T. A., & Chamberlain Kritikos, K. (2016). Copyright reform and the library and patron use of non-text or mixed-text grey literature: A comparative analysis of approaches and opportunities for change. Grey Journal (TGJ), 12(2), 67-81. [OSU full text]

Luo, L., & Trott, B. (2016). Ethical issues in reference: An in-depth view from the librarians’ perspective. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 55(3), 189-198. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Nilsson, I. (2016). Developing new copyright services in academic libraries. Insights: The UKSG Journal, 29(1), 78-83. doi:10.1629/uksg.276 [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Publishing & Scholarly Communication

Beard, R. M. (2016). An investigation of graduate student knowledge and usage of open-access journals. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 28(1), 25-32. doi:10.1080/1941126X.2016.1130453 [OSU full text]

Bennett, L., & Flanagan, D. (2016). Measuring the impact of digitized theses: A case study from the London School of Economics. Insights: The UKSG Journal, 29(2), 111-119. doi:10.1629/uksg.300 [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

Schlosser, M., (2016). Write up! A study of copyright information on library-published journals. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication. 4, p.eP2110. doi:10.7710/2162-3309.2110 [OA full text]

Sims, N. N. (2016). My unpublished research was scooped? College & Research Libraries News, 77(6), 296-301. [OSU full text] / [OA full text]

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By Maria Scheid, Rights Management Specialist at the Copyright Resources Center, The Ohio State University Libraries

Copyright Roundup, Part III

July 19, 2016 / Maria Scheid / Comments Off

Continuing in our copyright roundup series, we will review some of the most recent legal cases and developments in copyright law and policy.

More Fair Use Victories:

Cambridge University Press v. Becker

Fair use has once again prevailed in the most recent decision of the Georgia State e-reserves case. The case, originally filed in 2008, involves Georgia State University’s electronic reserve system, a system through which professors made small excerpts of copyrighted books available to their students for free. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, GSU modified their policy to provide professors with a fair use checklist to assist in selecting excerpts. In 2012, the district court found most of the uses in question to be fair uses. On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit held the district court erred by adopting an arithmetic approach to their fair use analysis. The 2012 trial court ruling was vacated and sent back to the district court with instructions for a more holistic approach to fair use.

On March 31, 2016, the most recent decision from the district court was published, again finding the majority of claims (44 out of the 48) to be fair uses. The court’s analysis was specific to instances of nontransformative and nonprofit educational purposes of teaching. For an analysis of the decision and what it may mean for libraries going forward, see Krista Cox’s post “A Deeper Dive Into the New Georgia State Decision.”

Oracle v. Google

Oracle, owners of the Java programming language, sought $9.3 billion in damages for Google’s reproduction of the structure, sequence, and organization of 37 packages in the Java application programming interface (API) within Google’s Android operating system.[1] After three days of deliberation, a jury found Google’s use of Java APIs to be a fair use, notwithstanding Google’s commercial nature and evidence of internal emails questioning the need to obtain a license.

But what exactly is an API? Defining “API” has been a challenge for both sides throughout the litigation. Google received attention for wheeling in a physical file cabinet labelled “java.lang” in their opening arguments during May’s jury trial, while Oracle previously took the approach of constructing a hypothetical situation referencing Harry Potter. Earlier in its 2012 opinion, the district court outlined the package-class-method hierarchy of the Java programming language, analogizing APIs to a library. In this analogy, Google replicated the names and functions of the API packages (bookshelves in the library) but wrote their own code to replicate the classes (books on the bookshelves) and methods (how-to chapters of the books).

Terry Reese, Head of Digital Initiatives at University Libraries provides clarification on what exactly an API is and how the restrictions on the use and reproduction of APIs may impact the Libraries. Terry shares, “APIs act as a common language between developers enabling faster and more efficient development. In essence, they are the bridges between systems and services that allow the tools and technology that we use to simply work. Take for example, the simple task of printing this blog post. Think about what’s really happening. The application (your browser) is communicating with the operating system, which in turn, communicates with a printer device driver to pass the data to the printer. Very likely, the browser, the operating system, the printer — these are all created by different developers and different companies. However, the applications and services can communicate together due to the utilization of a common set of APIs.”

The use and reproducibility of APIs supports interoperability between programs and services, and as Terry notes, the fair use of APIs is “hugely important for the long-term health of IT and open development. Within today’s technology environment, integration between services, applications, standards, etc. drive innovation and integration. This integration is possible due to the availability of common APIs.”

Oracle has stated their intention to appeal the decision.[2]

Articles of Interest: July-December 2015

February 1, 2016 / Maria Scheid / Comments Off

This post highlights articles published in the second half of 2015 with a focus on copyright, especially as it pertains to libraries, higher education, and scholarly communication. Links to the full-text articles are provided when available; [OSU full-text] links will connect authenticated users through The Ohio State University Libraries, while [OA full-text] links point to an open access version of the article that should be available to all users.

Did we miss an interesting article? Please share the citation in the comments!

Copyright

Datig, I., & Russell, B. (2015). “The fruits of intellectual labor”: International student views of intellectual property. College & Research Libraries, 76(6), 811-830 [OA full text] [OSU full text]

Franklin, T. (2015). Copyright and fair use in the digital age. EContent, 38(7), 8-10. [OSU full-text]

Gordon-Murnane, L. (2015). Copyright tools for a digitized, collaborative culture. Online Searcher, 39(6), 28-52. [OSU full-text]

Muriel-Torrado, E., & Fernández-Molina, J. (2015). Creation and use of intellectual works in the academic environment: Students’ knowledge about copyright and copyleft. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(4), 441-448. [OSU full-text] 

Owen, L. (2015). Fair dealing: A concept in UK copyright law. Learned Publishing, 28(3), 229-231. doi:10.1087/20150309 [OSU full-text]

Shan, L. (2015). Conditional access to music: Reducing copyright infringement without restricting cloud sharing. International Journal of Law & Information Technology, 23(3), 235-260. doi:10.1093/ijlit/eav008 [OA full-text]

Smith, D. (2015). Finding parents for orphan works: Using genealogical methods to locate heirs for obtaining copyright permissions. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(3), 280-284. [OSU full-text]

Libraries

Christou, C. (2015). Mass digitization and copyright. Information Today, 32(10), Cover-29. (Periodical) [OSU full-text]

Kawooya, D. k., Veverka, A. a., & Lipinski, T. t. (2015). The copyright librarian: A study of advertising trends for the period 2006–2013. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(3), 341-349. [OSU full-text]

Riley-Reid, T. D. (2015). The hidden cost of digitization – things to consider. Collection Building, 34(3), 89-93. doi:10.1108/CB-01-2015-0001 [OSU full-text]

Schmidt, L., & English, M. (2015). Copyright instruction in LIS programs: Report of a survey of standards in the U.S.A. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(6), 736-743. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2015.08.004 [OSU full-text]

Wang, Y., & Yang, X. (2015). Libraries’ positions on copyright: A comparative analysis between Japan and China. Journal of Librarianship & Information Science, 47(3), 216-225. [OSU full-text]/[OA full-text]

Publishing & Scholarly Communication

Quinn, M. M. (2015). Open access in scholarly publishing: Embracing principles and avoiding pitfalls. Serials Librarian, 69(1), 58-69. [OSU full-text]

Sims, N. (2015). It’s all the same to me! Copyright, contracts, and publisher self-archiving policies. College & Research Libraries News, 76(11), 578-581. [OA full-text] / [OSU full-text]

Wassom, B. (2015). Navigating the rights and risks in social reading. Publishing Research Quarterly, 31(3), 215-219. doi:10.1007/s12109-015-9415-6 [OSU full-text]

Wilson, V. v. (2015). The open access conundrum. Evidence Based Library & Information Practice, 10(3), 116-118. [OSU full text] (From recurring Research in Practice column)

Legislation & Policy Developments

Christou, C. (2015). Copyright independence. Information Today, 32(7), 1-25. [OSU full-text]

Epperson, B. (2015). Copyright & fair use. ARSC Journal, 46(2), 293-300. [OSU full-text] (Recurring column in non-traditional academic journal)

Stannard, E. (2015). A copyright snapshot: The impact of new copyright legislation on information professionals. Legal Information Management, 15(4), 233-239. [OSU full text]

_____________________________________________________________________________________

By Maria Scheid, Rights Management Specialist at the Copyright Resources Center, The Ohio State University Libraries

Copyright Roundup, Part II

November 30, 2015 / Maria Scheid / Comments Off

In Copyright Roundup Part I we discussed the fair use of an “aesthetically displeasing” photograph, copyright protection for cheerleading uniforms, and copyright ownership for non-human authors. In this post we will discuss the latest development in the Google Books litigation, fair use considerations in issuing DMCA takedown notices, and the public domain status of Happy Birthday to You.

Another fair use win for Google in most recent Google Books lawsuit.

Many of our readers are familiar with the Google Books litigation which began in 2005 when a number of publishers and the Authors Guild brought separate lawsuits against Google for Google’s Library Project.[1] As part of the project, Google partners with research libraries to digitize works in the participating libraries’ collections. Digital scans of books are indexed and added to Google Books, providing the public with the ability to do full-text searches of terms within the books. Users can use the full-text search function in Google Books to determine how many times a particular term appears in any book within the Google Book collection. Absent an agreement with the copyright owner, Google does not provide the full scans to the public. Users can, however, see snippets of text containing the searched-for terms. Additionally, Google provides a digital copy of the scanned book back to the submitting library.

On October 16, 2015, the Second Circuit affirmed the lower court’s decision, holding Google’s digitization activities to be a transformative fair use. In analyzing the fair use factors, the court identified Google’s new purpose in providing otherwise unavailable information about the books, allowing users to identify works that include (and do not include) terms of interest. The court also found the snippet view to add important value to the search function, providing users with the context necessary to determine if the book fell within their scope of interest. While Google is a for-profit company, the Google Books project is provided as a free service without advertising. The court found Google’s ultimate profit motivation was not enough to deny a fair use finding in light of other factors, including its transformative purpose in using the works.

The court held that use of the entire work was reasonably appropriate to achieve the transformative purpose of enabling a full-text search function. For the snippet view feature, Google had a blacklisting process in place to permanently block about 22% of a book’s text from snippet view. In addition, researchers for Authors Guild were only able to access an aggregate of 16% of a text. The fragmented and scattered nature of the snippets results in an insubstantial amount of the work being displayed.

The court held the search and snippet view functions did not serve as a competing substitute for the original works. While snippet view may cause some loss of sales it did not rise to the level of meaningful or significant effect upon the potential market or value of the copyrighted work required to tilt the fourth factor in favor of the Authors Guild.

Finally, the court held that providing library partners with the digital copies of the works in their own collections was not infringing. Whether the libraries would then use the copies for infringing purposes was mere speculation and insufficient to place Google as a contributory infringer.

Why does it matter?

Despite ongoing litigation, Google continued their partnerships with libraries to digitize works in library collections, meaning they faced huge potential costs in damages. Consequently, this decision was a big fair use for Google, partnering libraries, and the public who use Google Books.

In his opinion, Judge Leval emphasized the goal of copyright to expand public knowledge and understanding, making the public, rather than the individual author or creator of a work, the primary beneficiary of copyright. Google’s activities served this goal. Public knowledge was augmented by making available information about the scanned books without serving as a substantial substitute for the copyrighted works.

The Authors Guild has indicated their intention to appeal the ruling but it will be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether they will hear the case.

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Copyright Corner

Tag: libraries (page 1 of 3)

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Copyright in CarmenCanvas Guide: New resource demonstrates best practices for sharing copyrighted content in Carmen courses

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Articles of Interest: July-December 2016

Articles of Interest: January-June 2016

Copyright Roundup, Part III

Articles of Interest: July-December 2015

Copyright Roundup, Part II

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