Whereas proactive management of copyright issues is key to copyright compliance, active involvement in students learning about copyright is equally important. With that in mind, I am preparing my “non-lecture” for the upcoming online course, Intro to Copyright Management: Principles & Issues, as an interactive-think for yourself-start planning your copyright management, session. I am beginning with three common scenarios which should engage the students and get them thinking about why they need to manage copyright. We will look at situations where a nonlawyer (often a librarian) answers the day-to-day copyright questions, and discuss why, what, when and how to manage copyright.

This course will help the student think about his role in copyright through the courses in the Certificate in Copyright Management program which has 5 required online courses and 2 in-person courses. In addition to the interactive web sessions, there will be a discussion list and each student will begin her own checklist for copyright management and compliance taking into account domestic and global copyright, digital, library and author/publisher perspectives, and spreading the copyright message.

Occasionally organizations with positions for lawyers and nonlawyers (e.g., librarians, editors) email Copyrightlaws.com with openings. These openings which used to be posted on Copyrightlaws.com will now be available only via Twitter @Copyrightlaws.com. The Twitter feed is also available on the right side of this blog. Please keep sending those positions so we can share them with job seekers. Email Copyrightlaws.com.

The Copyright & New Media Law Newsletter, Volume 2011, Issue 4, is now available. Contents include an editorial (by Lesley Ellen Harris) on Asking the Right Copyright Questions; The Supreme Court of Canada Copyright Pentalogy (by Sundeep Chauhan); Copyright as Assets; Employee Liability for Copyright (by Tonya J. Gisselberg); Small Claims Court for Copyright Infringement; Reviews – Digital; and Questions & Answers.

Some people believe that if a work does not bear a copyright symbol, then that work is not protected by copyright law.  This is not true.  In most circumstances, the use of the copyright symbol is not mandatory.  However, the symbol © is used universally to identify a copyright-protected work and to indicate its copyright owner.  The symbol is not required in the leading copyright convention, the Berne Convention (to which 164 countries belong), but remains a requirement in another copyright convention, the Universal Copyright Convention.  The information in this article discusses Berne member countries’ use, or non-mandatory use, of a copyright symbol. Read more…

Click for December 2011 issue of the LEH-Letter:  Copyright, New Media Law & E-Commerce News. Subscribe to this free e-letter to your right…

The digital revolution has resulted in a shift in the ways that libraries, archives and museums buy, store and provide access to electronic resources. Many institutions are developing digital licensing strategies that provide guidelines and procedures for staff members to perform their jobs effectively while still providing easy access to their e-resources by patrons. Lesley Ellen Harris was recently interviewed by the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) on this topic.  The following questions were asked:

1.     How does a museum begin to develop its licensing strategy?

2.     Is Web 2.0 and social networking an important aspect of a museum’s licensing strategy?

3.     What are resources that may assist in writing a licensing strategy?

Although the questions originated from a museum perspective, the answers given to each question can be generalized to other institutions that are developing a digital licensing strategy.

The complete interview is available at CHIN’s Professional Exchange in both audio and print format.

Have 5 minutes?  Listen to this overview on why we need to manage copyright, what sorts of questions we can manage, goals of managing copyright, and Lesley’s philosophy for managing copyright from having fun to having a “safe” environment to make mistakes, to knowing when to ask for help.  Listen.

Thanks to Certificate in Copyright Management program student Lora Baiocco for sharing a photo of her cat Alex reviewing the Copyright Act.

Who enrolls in copyright education courses in the Certificate in Copyright Management?

In a recent offering of courses in the Certificate in the Copyright Management program, there was a acquisition/serials librarian, resource manager and copyright advisor, editor, library manager, senior information specialist, corporate librarian, contract catalog library, information literacy librarian, “newly minted” librarian, consultant, manager of document delivery operations, director of a resource center, publisher, copyright librarian, copyright compliance officer, educator, director of library and archive services, reference librarian, technical librarian, and a solo librarian, and more!  All are welcome.

Our course attendees and Certificate Graduates work in an asset management company, legislative library, for-profit university, academic library, engineering firm, pharmaceutical company, law firm, scholarly publishing, association, law society, research organization, newsletter publishing, financial services, healthcare, nonprofit educational institution, museum, archive, public library, oil and gas company, and more!

Goals of students include:

• learn as much as possible about copyright
• better answer copyright questions Read more…

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is a Special Operating Agency of Industry Canada.  Industry Canada is responsible for the administration of intellectual property in Canada.  The Copyright Office is part of CIPO.  Below is an interview with newly appointed Commissioner of Patents, Registrar of Trademarks and Chief Executive Officer of CIPO, Sylvain Laporte.

1. How many copyright registration certificates are issued in Canada each year? Read more…

Bill C-11, An Act to Amend the Copyright Act in Canada, received second reading in the House of Commons (H of C) on 18 October 2011. Discussions focussed on balance, openness to listening to interest groups, and specific provisions and scenarios covered and not covered by the bill. If you want a quick catch-up on copyright reform in Canada, take a look at 18 October H of C discussions in Hansard.  Also, c-11 was discussed in the H of C on 21 October.  Bill C-11 is the same bill as the Canadian government’s third bill on copyright revision, Bill C-32, which died on the order paper earlier in 2011 when an election was called. (Updated 26 October 2011)