Watching copyright globally
Jinfo Blog

23rd November 2009

By Penny Crossland

Item

Copyright compliance is a complex issue in the global information society, especially now that so many of us are web authors and sharers of copyrighted works. There have been several Livewire postings on the subject (see http://www.vivavip.com/go/e22684 , http://www.vivavip.com/go/e16920 and http://www.vivavip.com/go/e25207 ) .The wider aspect of the copyright landscape and how information centres manage its complexities is also currently the subject of a Freepint survey (http://web.freepint.com/go/about/press/4310). So, the launch of a copyright watch website (http://www.copyright-watch.org) could not have come at a more prescient time. A joint effort by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org), Electronic Information for Libraries (http://www.eifl.net) and international copyright experts has established ‘the first comprehensive and up-to-date online repository of national copyright laws’, aimed at helping legislators to cope with the ‘challenges of new technology and new business’. Funding for the venture has been provided by George Soros’s Open Society Institute (http://www.soros.org) Users of Copyright Watch are able to find links to national and regional copyright laws by searching by country name or selecting specific continents. The home page also contains links to a blog with commentary on current news – the site currently has information on updated copyright laws in Serbia and Iraq. It is proposed that the user-friendly site will be continously updated with amendments to laws and commentary from national copyright experts. The individuals behind the new venture hope that members of the ‘Access to Knowledge‘ community will use the site as a forum to add or correct data on new legislation or consultations in the repository. A online form for that purpose is provided.

« Blog