INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS AND HISTORIC CORPORA

Mark Sandler

University of Michigan

ICOLC, March, 2003

WHAT ARE HISTORIC CORPORA COLLECTIONS?

Early English Books Online--ProQuest Evans Early American Imprints-- Readex Eighteenth Century Collection Online-- Gale Goldsmith-Kress, 19th Century, Landmarks of

Science Wrights American Fiction, Making of America,

Early Canadiana Online Elsevier backfiles, NYT Historical Archives

HOW SHOULD WE EVALUATE THESE INITIATIVES?

Content and projected use Quality and format of images Access-- cataloging records, indexing, interface,

searchable OCR or text conversion Archiving strategies Rights-- what are you buying and what can you

do with it

WHAT CAN WE DO WITH AN OLD BOOK?

Read it, quote from it

Copy it-- in part or whole

Reformat it

Disseminate it

Use it as the basis for creating a new edition

Contract with others to reformat, disseminate, or create a new edition

PROTECTIONS

To what extent should the rights I have to use public domain materials in print form extend to digital versions of these texts?

Little restriction in law Primary limitations are contractual

WHAT ARE PUBLIC DOMAIN RIGHTS?

Can I check an old book out of the University of Michigan Library, create image scans, and sell it?

Can I send print copies 19th century issues of New York Times to a vendor for digital imaging?

Can I send microfilm images of the 19th century New York Times for digital conversion?

Can I take OCR from a digital product for my own purposes if no license exists?

Can I use digital images to create a new but derivative edition of a work?

ARE THERE ANY LIMITATIONS ON THE USE OF OUT-OF COPYRIGHT MATERIALS?

Selection, Compilation, and Annotation High-end image capture Keyboarding and encoding

PROTECTING PUBLIC DOMAIN RIGHTS?

Don’t accept over-reaching contract terms

Protect the rights of our scholars

Protect rights to use texts as the basis for creating new editions

Protect the rights of libraries to use images for purposes of indexing, OCR, or transcription.

A CASE IN POINT: EVANS DIGITAL(1)

Original Language:

5. Intellectual Property

“Customer acknowledges that the Product consists of materials copyrighted by third parties and containing trademarks owned by third parties, and that NewsBank owns the copyright of the compilations of these materials.”

A CASE IN POINT: EVANS DIGITAL(2)

Proposed language in response:5. Intellectual Property

“Customer acknowledges that the Product consists of images of specific works owned or in the legal custody of third parties and that digital facsimiles of these specific works are protected by pertinent statutes governing intellectual and artistic property. Customer acknowledges that its use of the Product, including use by Customer’s Authorized Users, must not infringe on the rights of NewsBank or third parties to

control dissemination of these images. NewsBank or third parties recognize that the intellectual content of the works represented in the product, including the words and ideas represented therein, is in the public domain and, as such, can be freely transcribed and disseminated.”

A CASE IN POINT: EVANS DIGITAL(3)

Agreed to Language:“Customer acknowledges that the Product includes digital facsimile

images (“Images”) of specific works owned or in the legal custody of third parties and that digital facsimiles of these specific works are protected by pertinent statutes governing intellectual and artistic property. Customer acknowledges that its use of the Product, including use by Customer’s Authorized Users, must not infringe on the rights of NewsBank or third parties to control dissemination of these images. In addition to the Images, Customer acknowledges that certain aspects, including but not limited to catalog records, OCR, metadata, and search interface, are protected intellectual property of NewsBank and/or third parties and will not be used or disseminated other than as protected by Fair Use in section 5B below without prior consent of NewsBank.”

WHAT CONSORTIA CAN DO?

Don’t sign away rights in law

Negotiate for the broadest possible rights of scholars to use these works

Let vendors know that you are concerned about providing broad access to these works

Protect the rights of libraries to use these works for cooperative initiatives to create new editions and access tools

TEXT CREATION PARTNERSHIP

Library community creating keyed and tagged editions of culturally significant works

Files are co-owned by partner institutions-- including vendors

Local load and management is encouraged Files can be combined for integrated searching across

publishers Can be disseminated beyond authenticated user

community Production is cost effective Links to image files