Category «Copyright»

January 1, 2025 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1929 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1924

On January 1, 2025, thousands of copyrighted works from 1929 will enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1924. They will be free for all to copy, share, and build upon. This year’s literary highlights include The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, and A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. In film, Mickey Mouse speaks his first words, the Marx Brothers star in their first feature film, and legendary directors from Alfred Hitchcock to John Ford made their first sound films. From comic strips, the original Popeye and Tintin characters will enter the public domain. Among the newly public domain compositions are Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Ravel’s Bolero, Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’, and the musical number Singin’ in the Rain. This expansive guide by Jennifer Jenkins selectively highlights a wide range of works that will be in the U.S. public domain in 2025. For librarians, educators and everyone who loves iconic books, music, film, plays, art and cartoons, this is a wonderful, welcome gift with which to begin 2025.

Subjects: Copyright, Education, Libraries & Librarians, Search Engines

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 27, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Sen. Wyden Releases Documents Confirming the NSA Buys Americans’ Internet Browsing Records; Inside a Global Phone Spy Tool Monitoring Billions; AT&T is trying to kill all landlines in California, which would have devastating effects; and the Continued Threat to Personal Data: Key Factors Behind the 2023 Increase.

Subjects: AI, Copyright, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Healthcare, Internet Trends, Legal Research, Legislative, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

January 1, 2024 Was Public Domain Day

Duke Law School Center for the Study of the Public Domain, Director Jennifer Jenkins heralds that on January 1, 2024 thousands of copyrighted works from 1928 entered the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1923. They will be free for all to copy, share, and build upon. This year’s highlights include Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence and The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman and Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It, and a trove of sound recordings from 1923. And, of course, 2024 marks the long-awaited arrival of Steamboat Willie – featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse – into the public domain. That story is so fascinating, so rich in irony, so rife with misinformation about what you will be able to do with Mickey and Minnie now that they are in the public domain that it deserved its own article, “Mickey, Disney, and the Public Domain: a 95-year Love Triangle.” Why is it a love triangle? What rights does Disney still have? How is trademark law involved? Here is just a handful of the works that will be in the US public domain in 2024. They were first set to go into the public domain after a 56-year term in 1984, but a term extension pushed that date to 2004. They were then supposed to go into the public domain in 2004, after being copyrighted for 75 years. But before this could happen, Congress hit another 20-year pause button and extended their copyright term to 95 years. Now the wait is over.

Subjects: Copyright, Education, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians

Where Did the Open Access Movement Go Wrong?: An Interview with Richard Poynder

Noted journalist and scholarly communication observer Richard Poynder explains why he has given up on the open access movement. This email interview was conducted by Rick Anderson.

Subjects: AI, Communications, Copyright, Education, KM, Legal Research, Technology Trends

Why Does the U.S. Copyright Office Require Libraries to Lie to Users about Their Fair Use Rights? They Won’t Say.

Rick Anderson, university Librarian at Brigham Young University, contends that the copyright warning notice prescribed by the US Copyright Office misleads library patrons about their fair use rights, and must change.

Subjects: Copyright, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 15, 2023

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: The potential healthcare privacy risks of ChatGPT; “Shadow libraries” at heart of mounting copyright lawsuits against OpenAI; Congressional Report Finds Meta and Tax Prep Companies “Recklessly” Shared Taxpayers’ Data; and Cooper Davis Act Would Force Tech Companies to Flag Users for Drugs.

Subjects: AI, Big Data, Copyright, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 13, 2023

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Neighborhood Watch Out; The A.I.-PR Industrial Complex: Artificial intelligence hype is impressively meaningless; Some Google Drive files may land in the new Spam folder soon; and Your voice could be your biggest vulnerability – AI technology is fueling a rise in online voice scams.

Subjects: AI, Copyright, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Financial System, Privacy

Will Amazon’s new ePub capability help the anti-DRM movement?

David H. Rothman has been writing about the issues inherent in publisher control of e-books and e-readers and the impact of digital rights management for many years. Whether you use personal devices or institutional devices, the issues Rothman raises here will impact you.

Subjects: Copyright, E-Books, Information Management, KM, Law Library Management, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, Library Software & Technology, Licensing, Software

DRM On My Mind

Christine Park, Adjunct Professsor of Law, Fordham Law Library highlights risks of and legal restrictions related to digital rights management. LLRX welcomes further discussion of efforts to implement solutions, “before it’s too late.” See also David H. Rothman’s article Will Amazon’s new ePub capability help the anti-DRM movement?

Subjects: Copyright, KM, Law Librarians, Libraries & Librarians, Library Software & Technology, Publishing & Publishers (Legal), Technology Trends