Publishers Association Fights to Stop Piracy

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At the Publishers Association’s (PA) Annual General Meeting held on the 2nd May 2012, members were called to step up the fight against piracy.  The PA urged authors to pursue cases of copyright infringement or “theft” and to make consumers aware of the considerable work that is invested into creating a published book.   In 2011, the association spent £196,000 on anti-piracy measures over the course of the year.

With the increase of ebooks in today’s digital age, intellectual piracy threatens creative expression as never before.  Internet piracy is more often than not associated with music piracy but the PA have highlighted how piracy is now becoming an issue with books.

To read more about this please click on this link.

 

UK Student Extradited to US for Copyright Infringement

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Image copyright Vectorportal, reproduced under CC Licence from Flickr

On Wednesday 14th March 2012, Richard O’Dwyer, a 23 year old student from Sheffield Hallam University was told that he will be extradited to the US on charges of copyright infringement.   Although Richard has not broken UK copyright laws, the Home Secretary Theresa May has approved the decision to send him to America where the copyright laws are tighter. 

Richard is accused of making £147,000 from providing links to copyright infringing material, including links to film and TV clips via his website TVShack.  

To hear Richard’s BBC interview click here.

Further details about this case are available from Out-Law.com.

Copyright Expires on James Joyce’s Work

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James Joyce image copyright Bianca Prime, reproduced under CC Licence from Flickr

Copyright restrictions on published works by Irish author James Joyce finally came out of copyright protection on the 1st January 2012.  Under current copyright law the author’s rights last for seventy years after their death.  In June 2012, a symposium is being held in Dublin to rethink Joyce’s writings and the new challenges that open access to his work presents. See: http://www.jamesjoyce2012.ie/index.html.

Joyce’s works include Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, Finnegans Wake and his only play, Exiles.  If you want to use Joyce’s  texts remember to find editions that have been published before 1986 as publisher’s retain typographical copyright for a period of 25 years.

Interestingly, on the 10th February 2012 the BBC reported a feud between the Zurich James Joyce Foundation and a small Dublin press which has just published a previously unpublished work by James Joyce.  Currently the CDPA 1988 allows published works to be made available 70 years after the author’s death whereas unpublished works will be protected by copyright until at least the end of the year 2039.  Click on this link to read more about this story.

Thoroughly confused?  Don’t worry you can alsways ask the Copyright Team at: copyright@lboro.ac.uk

Saints & Sinners: Confession Time

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Thank-you to everyone who visited the Copyright Stand ‘Are you a Saint or a Sinner?’ at the E-learning Showcase on Wednesday 1st February.  A couple of brave souls confessed to being occasional sinners but we are hoping that the information taken away on the day will help everyone in their saintly quest. 

On the whole, we thought the event was a huge success and it was a pleasure to speak to everyone who queued up (yes queued!)  to discuss their copyright matters and concerns.  It was also useful for us to see the types of copyright concerns and queries that are important to you. If you came along to the event but did not get the opportunity to speak to the team please send your queries to: copyright@lboro.ac.uk.

Best wishes from the Copyright Team

Copyright Stand at the E-Learning Showcase 1st Feb 2012

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 Are you a Saint or a Sinner?

The Copyright Team will be hosting a stand at the E-learning showcase on Wednesday 1st February 2012  between 11 am and 2.00 pm.  We are interested to obtain your views on how we can help to support your teaching and research.

If you are unable to make the event but would like more information please see the handouts below or email the Copyright Team at: copyright@lboro.ac.uk.

Handouts:

New Photocopier Notices

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A new photocopier notice is now available for staff and students which explains how to stay legal when photocopying. The Copyright Team are currently working their way around campus to ensure every photocopier is displaying the latest notice.

If your photocopier does not have a new notice please contact the Copyright Team at: copyright@lboro.ac.uk or ring 01509 222351.

 

What is Creative Commons?

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Creative Commons (CC) provides a range of copyright licenses and tools that allow individuals and organisations to keep the copyright in their work whilst allowing others to use their work in certain ways.  “Creative Commons copyright licences and tools forge a balance inside the traditional “all rights reserved” setting that copyright law creates”.  There are three layers of licences which allow various level of usage.  These are explained here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/.

Creative Commons is not a search engine but provides access to CC licensed material found on Flikr, YouTube, Google Images etc., and includes the following types of material: media, images, music, clip art and video.

To search Creative Commons click here: http://search.creativecommons.org/

If you decide to use CC licensed material please remember to attribute it unless specified otherwise. Creative Commons recommends the following:

Attributing the original work

“My Awesome Photo,” © 2009 Greg Grossmeier, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Attributing your derivative use of the work

This is a Finnish translation of “My Awesome Report” © 2009 by Greg Grossmeier, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. This Finnish translation is licensed under the same Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.

Further information on attributing work can be found at: http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Marking/Users

“You need to get your work ‘copyrighted’”

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Copyright symbol copyright Elmorsa, reproduced under CC Licence from Flickr

There is no such thing as ‘copyrighting’ work. Copyright is an automatic right that applies to any work that is fixed in a tangible format such as being written down or recorded. It does not need to be registered unlike patents or trademarks.

A copyright notice consists of the symbol ©, followed by the name of the copyright owner and the year of first publication.

For example: © Queensland University of Technology 1999

In the UK, a copyright notice does not need to be present to ensure protection under the Act; however, it does remind users that the work is protected and identifies the copyright owner.

External Copyright Courses

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 ”The Copyright Bomb“, 2011 Ricardomaia/Cliparteles.

 

If you are interested in copyright and would like to learn more about it please refer to the list of external courses outlined below.  Please note that this list has been compiled to help you highlight the range of courses available but are not endorsed by the University.

The Association for Information Management (ASLIB) provides fee based workshops in the following:

The British Library provides free online copyright courses including:

JISC Digital Media provides fee based workshops in the following:

TFPL provides fee based workshops in the following:

UKeiG provides courses on copyright. To see their upcoming workshops please click here.

Subject Specific Courses:

Arts & Humanities Research Council provides a fee based online course in: