This report is divided into three main sections. First, the report looks at copyright relinquishment in the context of current copyright law and doctrine, including issues such as the nature of protection, irrevocability and moral rights. The second section of the report is a survey of national legislation and jurisprudence on the subject. Finally, the report considers practical issues surrounding public domain dedications by looking at examples of institutions and individuals who might be interested in donating their copyright.
Access to works in the public domain is an important source of human creativity and autonomy, whether in the arts, scientific research or online discourse. But what can users actually do with works without obtaining the permission of a copyright owner? Readers will be surprised to find how many different kinds of permitted usage exist around the world. This book offers a comprehensive international and comparative account of the copyright public domain. It identifies fifteen categories of public rights and gives a detailed legal explanation of each, showing how their implementation differs between jurisdictions. Through this analysis, the authors aim to restore balance to copyright policy debates, and to contribute to such debates by making practical law reform proposals. A major intervention in the field of intellectual property law and copyright, this book will appeal to lawyers, scholars and those involved in the administration of copyright law.
This insightful Research Handbook discusses how exclusive intellectual property rights can affect inclusivity within individual, community and business contexts. It employs urban and rural frameworks to provide a multidimensional view of contemporary inclusivity and its relationship with intellectual property.
The creative industries are becoming of increasing importance from economic, cultural, and social perspectives. This Handbook explores the relationship, whether positive or negative, between creative industries and intellectual property (IP) rights.
The main objectives of this book are to expose key aspects that have a relevance when dealing with open data viewed from different perspectives and to provide appealing examples of how open data is implemented worldwide. The concept of open data as we know it today is the result of many different initiatives, both of a legislative and non-legislative nature, and promoted by a wide range of actors. Numerous regulatory antecedents to foster the concept of open data and embed it in national and international policy agendas have been undertaken on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as at a supranational level. The book highlights a number of the efforts made to promote open data in Europe, Asia and the United States. In addition to new insights, practical guidance and multiple disciplinary perspectives on open data, the book also addresses the transformation of current developments towards open data, which may be referred to as the democratisation of data. This book will support open data practitioners as well as open data scholars in their endeavours to promote open data implementation and research. Bastiaan van Loenen is associate professor and director of the Knowledge Centre Open Data at the Faculty of Architecture and The Built Environment of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, as is Glenn Vancauwenberghe, who is a post-doctoral researcher, and Joep Crompvoets is a professor at the Public Governance Institute of the KU Leuven in Belgium.
The definitive reference work with comprehensive analysis and review of peer production Peer production is no longer the sole domain of small groups of technical or academic elites. The internet has enabled millions of people to collectively produce, revise, and distribute everything from computer operating systems and applications to encyclopedia articles and film and television databases. Today, peer production has branched out to include wireless networks, online currencies, biohacking, and peer-to-peer urbanism, amongst others. The Handbook of Peer Production outlines central concepts, examines current and emerging areas of application, and analyzes the forms and principles of cooperation that continue to impact multiple areas of production and sociality. Featuring contributions from an international team of experts in the field, this landmark work maps the origins and manifestations of peer production, discusses the factors and conditions that are enabling, advancing, and co-opting peer production, and considers its current impact and potential consequences for the social order. Detailed chapters address the governance, political economy, and cultures of peer production, user motivations, social rules and norms, the role of peer production in social change and activism, and much more. Filling a gap in available literature as the only extensive overview of peer production’s modes of generating informational goods and services, this groundbreaking volume: Offers accessible, up-to-date information to both specialists and non-specialists across academia, industry, journalism, and public advocacy Includes interviews with leading practitioners discussing the future of peer production Discusses the history, traditions, key debates, and pioneers of peer production Explores technologies for peer production, openness and licensing, peer learning, open design and manufacturing, and free and open-source software The Handbook of Peer Production is an indispensable resource for students, instructors, researchers, and professionals working in fields including communication studies, science and technology studies, sociology, and management studies, as well as those interested in the network information economy, the public domain, and new forms of organization and networking.
Information is a critical resource for personal, economic and social development. Libraries and archives are the primary access point to information for individuals and communities with much of the information protected by copyright or licence terms. In this complex legal environment, librarians and information professionals operate at the fulcrum of copyright’s balance, ensuring understanding of and compliance with copyright legislation and enabling access to knowledge in the pursuit of research, education and innovation. This book, produced on behalf of the IFLA Copyright and other Legal Matters (CLM) Advisory Committee, provides basic and advanced information about copyright, outlines limitations and exceptions, discusses communicating with users and highlights emerging copyright issues. The chapters note the significance of the topic; describe salient points of the law and legal concepts; present selected comparisons of approaches around the world; highlight opportunities for reform and advocacy; and help libraries and librarians find their way through the copyright maze.
This study assesses the scope of the public domain, as defined by copyright laws, history and philosophy, before turning to the issue of its effectiveness and greater availability to the public and society at large.
This book is a comprehensive guide to the development and utilization of authorial moral rights across the key jurisdictions of the English-speaking world and in France and Germany. In recent years, the copyright statutes of the common law countries have been expanded by the introduction of provisions dealing with purely authorial rights - moral rights. The Moral Rights of Authors and Performers discusses the historical development of the rights in Europe, with particular reference to France and Germany, and shows the growth of moral rights theory and legislative coverage up to the late 1930s. During the 1920s the moral rights of authors became the subject of international protection, particularly through the operation of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. The book explores the adoption of moral rights into this and other international instruments, explaining the functions that moral rights were intended to perform. The author gives detailed accounts of the operation of moral rights in France and Germany today, addressing both statutory interpretation and doctrinal issues. The provision of case studies gives an impression of the rich jurisprudence associated with the rights in these countries. The book also contains a detailed discussion of the versions of moral rights that have become entrenched in Canada, the UK, the US and Australia, with each country considered independently. It deals separately with the introduction of the rights into each country and their operation and interpretation by courts and commentators. Material on common law analogues to the rights is provided, which indicates alternative actions that practitioners might take. Problems of cross-jurisdictional legal proceedings (especially arising from technological transfer of information) are also addressed, with moral rights protection elsewhere in the world summarized in tabular form.
This booklet provides an introduction for newcomers to the subject of copyright and related rights. It explains the fundamentals underpinning copyright law and practice, and describes the different types of rights which copyright and related rights law protects, as well as the limitations on those rights. It also briefly covers transfer of copyright and provisions for enforcement.
