Legal Issues: IPR and DRM

Dr. Charlotte WaeldeCo-director, AHRB Research Centre for Studies inIntellectual Property and Technology Law,School of Law,University of Edinburgh  

Legal Issues: IPR

• Copyright: ownership; exploitation; enforcement

• Moral Rights: integrity; attribution

• Database right: ownership; exploitation

Legal Issues: Copyright ownership

Copyright: protects literary, dramatic, artistic, musical works, films (author works).Also derivative works: sound recordings, broadcasts, computer generated works

Author: the person who creates the work

Owner: the person who creates the work except where an employee acts in the course of employment – owner is employer

Content: example from JORUM

• Simple materials (C)• Excel spreadsheet with data

for lab exercise • Word document with lesson

plan, or schedule of work (C)• Images (C)• Powerpoint presentations (C)• More complex materials (C)• 3D Flash animations

illustrating complex concepts e.g. chemical, geological etc (C)

• Learning objects, containing a number of files, some of which may provide student interactivity (C)

• Virtual objects (C)

Legal Issues: copyright ownership

Copyright ownership in HEIsQuestion: who has the ‘right’ to give permission to allow

use of works in collaborative teaching and learning initiatives?

Custom and practice: HEIs do not assert rights to income streams? To copyright?

Build a database with works ‘donated’ by individuals and then…

After complaints were received Cardiff University withdrew a clause in a proposed new employment contract pointing out that the University owned lecturer’s lecture notes and that they should be handed over to the university when staff leave. (Times Higher Educational Supplement, 27 July 2004)

Vagueness over ownership is not helpful in collaborative ventures

Copyright comprises a bundle of exclusive rights:• To copy a work• To issue copies of the work to the public• To rent or lend the work to the public• To perform, show or play the work in public• To communicate the work to the public• To make an adaptation of the work

Authorisation required for each of these rights. All relevant (except possibly rent or lend) to collaborative education and training ventures

Authorisation can be by way of assignation or licence – exclusive/non-exclusive; extensive/limited.

Terms needed for licensing in rights – to the database; and for licensing out rights – to the user.

Legal issues: copyright exploitation

Legal Issues: copyright enforcement

Infringement of rights of those who supply works: clear licences, DRM, risk management

Infringement by third parties: DRM can help with enforcement, but beyond that?

Copyright: moral rights

UK:Integrity: a right not to have a work subject to

derogatory treatment (objective test in UK) - can be waived. Causes much concern. Note: community wants as many rights for re-use and re-purposing as possible (Moira Massey)

Attribution: a right to be identified as the author - requires to be asserted

Weak rights in the UK – stronger in Continental Europe

Copyright and moral rights:

The perfect world for creating teaching and learning materials for use in a collaborative environment?

Assignation of copyright from the owner

Moral rights waived

Incentive for the contributor?

Unlikely in reality – so…

The database right

A database is a collection of independent works, data or other materials arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic or other means

Collections of teaching and learning materials fall under this heading – e.g. JORUM

The database right: ownership and rights

Ownership lies with the maker: the person who invests (qualitatively or quantitatively) in the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents.

Right is to prevent unauthorised extraction (transfer of contents) and re-utilisation (making available e.g. by distribution of copies etc.) of the whole or a substantial part of the contents.

The database right: why does it matter?

The content of a database, even where the copyright is ‘cleared’, cannot be exploited without permission of the maker of the database.

Tiers of ownership within the one product need to be carefully managed.

Report prepared for JISC on the best approach to adopt in the use of DRM in research and education. For a copy of the final report see http://www.intrallect.com/drm-study/DRMFinalReport.pdf