NUL Copyright and Scholarly Communication
This blog is to share information and insight on trends in scholarly communications and copyright law and how they may affect the Northwestern University community.
October 16, 2008
A new federal copyright czar?
Copyright legislation is alive and well within the last few weeks. While the Orphan Works legislation failed to pass, President Bush signed into law S.3325 Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act." The Act creates a new cabinet level position that reports directly to the President on intellectual property enforcement matters. The position has been termed "copyright czar." Wired has a brief article, with the text of the law.:http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/bush-signs-law.html
It is interesting to see recent legislative activities on the copyright and open access front in relationship to each other. While the proposed law (HR 6845: Fair Copyright in Research Works Act), to eradicate the ability of the federal government to mandate open access to research funded by taxpayer funds has been challenged, we are now also working under the assumptions of new laws that tighten enforcement measures for use of protected content.
Are these balancing acts between, on the one hand provisions of more open access, and tighter controls on the other, I wonder, or will we continue to see one side of the copyright legislative spectrum to strive, while the other struggles along? Any thoughts?
by Mariann Burright | Legislation | TrackBack