COPYRIGHT
The Reanimation Library believes that the current iteration of copyright law is too restrictive and opaque. These are links to sites dedicated to explaining, defining, debating, and illuminating copyright law.
Please note, library staff assistance should not be construed as a substitute for professional legal research aid.
The Association of Research Libraries Copyright & Intellectual Property Policies Page
This portal from ARL provides access to a number of copyright-related issues, including orphan works, Fair Use legislation and Digital Rights Management, among others.
Center for the Public Domain
The Center for the Public Domain is a philanthropic foundation based in Durham, North Carolina. Through grant making, original research, conferences, and collaborative programs, the Center seeks to call attention to the importance of the public domain and spur effective, practical solutions and responses. Its work is animated by the conviction that new legal regimes, social institutions and transparent technologies must be created to fortify the information commons. The Center for the Public Domain is enthusiastically committed to this mission -- and to the use of innovative philanthropy and catalytic leadership to secure the future of the public domain.
Copyright Advisory Network
The goal of Copyright Advisory Network is to encourage librarians to discuss copyright concerns and seek feedback and advice from fellow librarians and copyright specialists. The Network is sponsored by the American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy.
Copyright Advisory Network's Digital Slider
Amazing online tool developed by the Copyright Advisory Network that allows to easily determine if a work is in the public domain.
Creative Commons
A non-profit institution dedicated to introducing a middle ground into the either/or legal nature of copyright law. Creative Commons was founded in 2001 with the support of the Center for the Public Domain. It is led by authorities in cyberlaw, intellectual property, computer science, and filmmaking, such as James Boyle, Michael Carroll, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, Lawrence Lessig, Hal Abelson, Eric Saltzman, Davis Guggenheim, Joi Ito, and Eric Eldred.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Archive at The Electronic Frontier Foundation
This archive tracks legislation and litigation surrounding the DMCA from a leading authority in the field of electronic freedom. Based in San Francisco, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is a donor-supported membership organization working to protect our fundamental rights regardless of technology; to educate the press, policymakers and the general public about civil liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a defender of those liberties. Among our various activities, EFF opposes misguided legislation, initiates and defends court cases preserving individuals' rights, launches global public campaigns, introduces leading edge proposals and papers, hosts frequent educational events, engages the press regularly, and publishes a comprehensive archive of digital civil liberties information at their site.
The Fair Use Network
How much can you borrow, quote or copy from someone else's work? What happens if you get a "cease and desist" letter from a copyright owner? These and many other questions make "intellectual property," or "IP," law, a mass of confusion for artists, scholars, journalists, bloggers, and everyone else who contributes to culture and political debate.
The Fair Use Network was created because of the many questions that artists, writers, and others have about "IP" issues. Whether you are trying to understand your own copyright or trademark rights, or are a "user" of materials created by others, the information here will help you understand the system — and especially its free-expression safeguards.
If you have received a "cease and desist" letter from a copyright or trademark owner, or a notice from your Internet service provider about a "takedown" letter, you'll also find useful information on this site.
The Free Expression Project
The Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP), founded in 2000, provides research and advocacy on free speech, copyright, and media democracy issues. In May 2004, FEPP became part of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. FEPP's primary areas of inquiry are:
Intellectual Property and the Arts at The College Art Association
The Committee on Intellectual Property (CIP) monitors and interprets copyright legislation for the benefit of CAA's various constituencies. In so doing, it seeks to offer educational programs and opportunities for discussion and debate in response to copyright legislation affecting educators, scholars, museum professionals, and artists.
Education is essential for informed communication. The committee hopes that the resources presented in this section will answer your questions about intellectual property and inform your discussions and debates.
Copyright Law Page at Music Production Schools
The last fifteen years have seen enormous leaps in the evolution of digital music content and its use on the Internet. The proliferation of peer-to-peer file sharing networks in the last decade has made the exchange and transfer of copyrighted music easier than ever. For copyright holders and their distributors, this is often seen as the theft of intellectual property that carries with it negative financial consequences. For others, both producers and consumers of digital music, the ease of content sharing is equated with the potential for exposure and freer exchange of ideas and material, creating an environment more conducive to creative expression. This relationship is constantly evolving landscape is pressuring copyright law and other legislation designed to regulate the use and exchange of digital music to adapt just as quickly in order to keep pace.
"Changing Copyright" essay by Negativland
Built and maintained by Negativland, this site features essays, links to artist-friendly lawyers, and plenty of anti-copyright links. It is a resource brought to us from artists who have seen the front lines of the copyright wars.
Public Knowledge
Public Knowledge is a group of lawyers, technologists, lobbyists, academics, volunteers and activists dedicated to fortifying and defending a vibrant information commons.
Question Copyright
Question Copyright's mission is to highlight the economic, artistic, and social harm caused by distribution monopolies, and to demonstrate how freedom-based distribution is better for artists and audiences.
Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center
This site, hosted by Stanford University, is a tremendous copyright resource. It has a thorough overview of copyright and fair use as well as a section devoted to tracking current copyright legislation, a web guide, and a section specifically for librarians.
Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
Stanford's Copyright Renewal Database makes searchable the copyright renewal records received by the US Copyright Office between 1950 and 1993 for books published in the US between 1923 and 1963.
The United States Copyright Office
Need we say more? This is the one that the big boys run.
The University of Texas System Crash Course in Copyright
A site from the University of Texas which has an overview of both copyright and fair use in addition to many relevant copyright links. More specific sections include "Creating Multimedia," "Copyright in Digital Libraries," "Copyright Management," "Licensing Resources," and "Online Presentations."