Legal Issues: IPR and DRM
Dr. Charlotte Waelde
Co-director, AHRB Research Centre for Studies in
Intellectual 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
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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 HEIs
Question: 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
Legal issues: copyright exploitation
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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 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/drmstudy/DRMFinalReport.pdf