I was just sent a link to a video that I’d like to share. This is a factually correct commentary on how the length of copyright has been extended beyond any relation to its original goal, which was to the creation of new content.

This video is thought provoking, but do you agree with it?

Figuring out when a copyright expires is relatively simple in the US (never, thanks to Disney), but it’s not quite so simple a matter in the rest of the world. But now there are online tools to make it easier.

New tools have been released as part of the Europeana Project that will help you calculate when a copyright will expire. The tools are free to use and they cover 30 countries (the 27 members of the European Union plus Switzerland, Iceland & Norway) and can be found at www.outofcopyright.eu.

These public domain calculators have been developed by Knowledgeland and the Institute for Information Law at the University of Amsterdam, and they are a work in progress. Due to the complex and patchwork nature of copyright laws in most countries, these toos will likely stay under development right up until they are retired.

via Open Knowledge Foundation Blog

Copyright Clearance Center has enhanced its Pay-Per-Use Services for academic institutions, expanding licensing options for books commercially unavailable on science, technology, medicine, humanities, news, business and finance.

Now, universities can obtain reuse rights for entire books (including many that are currently commercially unavailable). In addition, publishers can offer reuse rights for their books using CCC.

Diane Pierson, Vice President, Marketing, Copyright Clearance Center, stated:  “We understand that convenient, cost-effective solutions help our customers get the permissions they need to use content they value most.”

A new feature popped up on Youtube yesterday when it inadvertently launched a licensing option for videos. Uploaders can now release their videos under a Creative Commons license.

A CC license gives creators the ability to grant permission to the end user to do certain things with the video (copy, distribute, edit, etc). The license itself isn’t a big deal. You’ve always had the legal option of releasing your videos under a CC license; I know several people and companies who have done so. The important detail here (and why you might want to change your videos over to CC licensed) is that users can now use the Youtube Video Editor to make new content out of CC licensed  videos hosted on Youtube.

Of course, some people already were making videos from Youtube videos, but now it just got easier.

Today James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, has confirmed Maria A. Pallante as the 12th Register of Copyrights and Director of the United States Copyright Office, effective today. Ms. Pallante has been serving as the Acting Register since December 31, 2010, when Marybeth Peters, the 11th Register, retired.

Prior to assuming the role as Register, Pallante worked in the US Copyright Office as the Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs (2008-2010) as well as the Deputy General Counsel (2007-2008).

“Maria’s background and experience make her an ideal choice to lead the Copyright Office at this time,” Billington said. “She is a thoughtful civil servant, a proven and effective manager, a leader in the wider copyright community and a recognized expert in domestic and international copyright law.”

via LOC

The University of Michigan Library’s Copyright Office announced a new project yesterday. This project is sponsored by the HaithiTrust, a coalition 50 colleges and university that are working to maintian  a digital archive of important cultural heritage.

It’s no surprise that the HaithiTrust is funding it,  because the primary goal of the project is to identify which parts of the HaithiTrust’s collection are orphan works. Nearly 3  quarters of its collection is still under copyright, and an unknown percentage lack info on the copyright holders. That’s a significant impediment to the scholars and researchers who wish to access these works.

via UML

China’s largest search engine announced Thursday  that it will begin using new anti-piracy tools in May. This comes in response to long standing criticism of Baidu. Many authors and publishers believe it has been lax in removing pirated content from its online library Baidu Wenku.

Baidu, which has about 70 percent of China’s search market, said the technology would enter a testing phase in April before a full release on May 1st. this won’t come soon enough for US or Chinese authorities, both of whom are watching Baidu very closely.

via Reuters

Science fiction author Greg Bear and his wife Astrid Anderson Bear, who is the daughter of sci-fi author, Poul Anderson, claim that Project Gutenberg may have infringed the rights of some authors and improperly put their work into the public domain.

In a letter authored by Mr. and Mrs. Bear, they write: “After conducting legal research on the LEXIS database of legal cases, decisions, and precedents, we have demonstrated conclusively that PG was making incorrect determinations regarding public domain status in many, many works that originally appeared in magazine form. The Poul Anderson estate has been able to get one work, “The Escape”, that PG had firmly declared to be public domain, removed from their site. PG’s original reasoning was that since the magazine it appeared in had never actually filed for copyright, the work was unprotected. “The Escape”, printed in 1953, was the first half of Anderson’s well-known novel BRAINWAVE, which was published and properly copyrighted the following year.” They go on to give examples of court cases in the letter.

Via eReads.com.

Publishers and authors looking to turn their print books into eBooks don’t just have to worry about the digital formatting, they also have to keep rights management in mind.

Just because you have the print rights to use an image doesn’t mean that you have the digital book rights. Your contract must stipulate that you have digital rights to use the image, or you have to go back to the copyright owner and extend the contract. “The first place to look is the contract between publisher and the photographer,” said Christopher Kenneally, Director of Business Development at Copyright Clearance.

Once you are clear that you have the right to use an image in a digital form, you may need to add in an extra stipulation if you want to enhance that image for an enhanced eBook. “If you are confused you are beginning to understand the problem,” said Christopher Kenneally, Director of Business Development at Copyright Clearance. “It is a confusing area.”

Publishers and authors signing contracts these days should keep digital rights in mind. While you may not have plans for an eBook version of a print title, eBooks are growing in popularity and it is best to get the digital rights ahead of time, so that you don’t have to go digging or trying to recreate images.

“Dealing with images opens up a can of worms,” said Kenneally. “I may be able to reshoot all of the images for a travel guide if I want to put out an eBook edition, because the sites are very common and everyone has taken a photo of them. But if I wanted to try to reshoot a special photographer’s style, then I might be infringing.”

For more information on copyright and publishing, the Copyright Clearance Center gives workshops on specific issues. Follow this link to find out more.

Today GalleyCat reported that television’s beloved show has landed a book series with Little, Brown. Contributor Mark Byrne quipped: “Finally, a television show attempting to give its brand the Stars Wars treatment. We predict singing Glee action figures are next.”

Over at Balkinization, Information Society Project at Yale Law School fellow Christina Mulligan pondered the legal implications of the show’s remixing relationship with popular culture. While television kids don’t have to worry about copyright, real-life teenagers do.

Here’s an excerpt: “Glee illustrates a painful tension in American culture. While copyright holders assert that copyright violators are ‘stealing’ their ‘property,’ people everywhere are remixing and recreating artistic works for the very same reasons the Glee kids do — to learn about themselves, to become better musicians, to build relationships with friends, and to pay homage to the artists who came before them. Glee‘s protagonists — and the writers who created them — see so little wrong with this behavior that the word ‘copyright’ is never even uttered.”