Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
data. These tools are designed to prohibit copyright infringements and
to prevent digital piracy. For example, DRM systems may enable a user
to see the content on a publisher's server, but restrict other activity that
the user may want to undertake, such as the systematic downloading of
a whole journal or an entire database of content. Some systems will also
recognize and 'lock-out' software robots or human users who download
too much content too quickly. Unfortunately, some DRM systems also
prevent users undertaking activity which is lawful and considered in the
print world to be fair use, such as the copying of limited amounts of text
for academic use.
Another problem for the academic sector is that fair dealing does not
apply to multimedia resources such as film and sound records or
podcasts. In certain academic disciplines this is a very serious restriction,
and means that it is impossible (without seeking permission) for the
researcher to include short clips of sound or film recording (or even still
images) in academic works or in teaching materials. In the UK, the
Gowers Review of Intellectual Property (HM Treasury, 2006) recom-
mended that film and sound recordings should be included in fair
dealing, but so far there has not been legislation to implement this.
In 2008 the British Library (2008) carried out a survey of intellectual
property and argued that 'Digital is not Different'. In the survey, 93%
of respondents agreed that anyone involved in non-commercial research
should be allowed to copy parts of electronically published works such
as journal articles, news broadcasts and film or sound recordings. As a
result, the library sector has strongly advocated that copyright
exceptions (fair dealing) should apply to all types of content (including
audiovisual material), whether published in print or in digital form.
Orphan works are another area of concern for the academic sector.
The term 'orphan work' refers to any content (text, image, film or
sound, etc.) that belongs to an unknown person or organization.
Chapter 5 describes the benefits to research, and indeed to the general
public, of the mass digitization of historic resources. However,
copyright law (in the EU) gives a copyright term of the life of the author
plus 70 years. This means that anyone managing a project to digitize
historical content, whether conducted by a publisher or by the academic
sector, must spend many (costly) hours in locating and seeking
permission of the authors of so called 'orphan works'. Currently,
digitization projects are much more costly and time consuming than
