[WEB4LIB] Copyright definitions

[Kevil, L H.]

Let me jump in on this thread with a bit of information I got at a recent
library conference. Prudence Adler of the Association of Research Libraries
gave a talk about "Copyright and Intellectual Property Legislation." During
the talk she made clear that new legislation and court decisions have made
it possible for facts to be 'owned' and for information to be 'illegal.'

I cannot speak for others, but I find these concepts completely
counter-intuitive and stunningly paradoxical. So far the discussion in this
thread has been reasonable and common-sensical. But there has been an
attorney-driven abandonment of common sense with some very unusual
consequences. So far as I can tell, this introduces a bewildering element
into the mix. It has even affected the manufacture of hardware available to
the consumer. I for one do not know how to express my thoughts, except to be
'agin' it. How do you formulate a reasonable position in a debate over
intellectual property that has already abandoned common sense? 

Hunter

L. Hunter Kevil
Collection Development Librarian
176 Elmer Ellis Library
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, MO 65201

KevilL at missouri.edu
573-884-8760 voice
573-882-6034 facsimile

-----Original Message-----
From: Drew, Bill [mailto:drewwe at MORRISVILLE.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 5:13 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Copyright definitions


I am really beginning to understand this issue.  I think we need a
definition of copyright so that we are all talking about the same thing.  I
think the one from the Collegiate Dictionary is as good as any:

"the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, and sell the matter and
form (as of a literary, musical, or artistic work)"


The problem really boils down to who owns the copyright and how willing are
they to allow access to it.  One of the biggest obstacles is that the
creator may not be the copyright holder.   He/she has generally given up the
right to reproduce, publish, and sell the work.  As I see it, hackers of
DVDs feel free to hack into DVDs because the actual creators of the work are
not the owners of the work?  I can sympathize with that view point now.

___________________ 
Bill Drew -  SUNY Morrisville Library
E-mail: mailto:drewwe at morrisville.edu
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."
-- Robert Louis Stevenson.