Copy - Right Or Wrong?

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COPY – RIGHT OR WRONG? ‘Evening meeting’. Somehow the words don’t conjure up the perfect way to spend a warm summer’s evening - unless you’re addicted to evening-classes! So, why go? Professional evening meetings aren’t designed to give an ‘instant fix’ on how to become a star performer during the day. They have a more mind-expanding function: the chance to collect the seeds of ideas which will flower just at the right moment in a week’s…. a month’s….. a year’s time. Such an event was the July meeting of the Southern Branch. The speaker was Professor Charles Oppenheim, of the University of Loughborough; his topic: recent developments on the copyright scene. Not, however, a dry presentation of the latest changes in the law of copyright, but a fascinating meander through a variety of issues: the EU Draft Directive, Crown Copyright, JISC, NESLI, HERON and eCLA. The linking theme was: confusion and change. And, as a key exhibit, the Professor proudly wore (of course, for illustrative purposes only) his snazzy, but illegally produced, Disney tie! The Draft Directive. Important as it is, any discussion of EU documentation policy produces a feeling of numbness in non-experts – and that includes most of us. So it was refreshing to have the topic introduced with a useful non-technical outline of the influence of EU Directives on domestic governments (and the penalties for ignoring them), the role of Draft Directives and the (non)-impact of the European Parliament’s near-rubber stamping of the Draft Directive on Copyright. However, being able to understand the concepts does not make any more palatable a document that seeks to severely limit access to electronic information and restrict its dissemination and use: no more viewing or re-transmitting of material by computer without the copyright owner’s say-so. And how many rights-holders will say ‘yes’ and not charge a fee? Such a change would place electronic information in a quite different league from printed material to which one would, for the time being, be able to enjoy unrestricted access. We were urged to lobby MPs and relevant Ministers before it is too late! Crown Copyright. Britain and Ireland are virtually the only countries to still enjoy the equivalent of Crown

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Copyright – elsewhere Government information is either unrestricted or copyright is automatically waived. A Green Paper on Crown Copyright in the Information Age appeared in 1998 and, following the receipt of comments (with only two being wholly in favour of its continuation), the Government produced a White Paper entitled The Future Management of Crown Copyright last March. Use of the term ‘management’ implies, of courseUse of the term ‘management’ implies, of course, that something will remain to be managed. The White Paper made a dozen recommendations, including the coherent licensing of all government information, the creation of an Information Asset Register, and increased emphasis on electronic exploitation allied to better access and improved quality control. It would also permit charging to continue for commercial publication, where added value Can be shown. To Professor Oppenheim, who sees the days of Crown Copyright as being numbered, the White Paper came as a great disappointment: it lacked ambition, it contained too many confusing proposals and, most important, the Government had missed the chance of abolishing the system altogether (for fear of reducing its own authority and losing potential income). Furthermore, our Government is still too timid to make the leap of opening up its intellectual property, encourage new ventures in publishing and, so, actually increase its income. At its recent meeting, the Legal Advisory Board of the European Commission (Prof. Oppenheim is a member) criticised the White Paper, recommending that official information should be available free-of-charge (or at marginal cost) to anyone and, where possible, be supplied in the format requested by the user. HERON, NESLI and JISC/PA. Librarians need access to digitised materials and publishers see this as a threat: once an item goes electronic the copyright holder can lose control of the document, perfect copies can be made free of charge and unauthorised versions, which may reduce the publisher’s reputation, are also possible. Some idea of feeling can be gauged from a speaker at the Publishers’ Association conference who found himself declaring, without a hint of irony: Last year I said that we stood on the edge of a precipice. But there have been many developments since then and now we are about to take a great step forward.

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The Follett Report, in 1993, tried to ease fears of digitisation and, as a result, the eLib (Electronic Libraries) Programme was launched the following year. Many eLib projects require permission to digitise materials and this caused alarm in publishing circles. JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee), therefore, joined forces with the Publishers’ Association to develop agreed statements on fair dealing, pricing, licensing and document supply: widely welcomed developments which should lead to standard terms for text digitisation. Two important projects which elib is developing with publishers, on behalf of higher education institutions, are NESLI (the National Electronic Site-Licensing Initiative) and HERON (Higher Education Resources Ondemand). NESLI is a scheme to create site licences for digital runs of journals, while HERON will do the same for journal articles and book chapters (but, perhaps, with unreasonably-high fees). eCLA. This is closely-linked to HERON and is the Copyright Licensing Agency’s licensing scheme for digitised materials – as yet, offered only to the higher education and pharmaceutical sectors and allowing only for exact replicas of originals. The proposed fee is 5p per page digitised (that, of course, covering permission only – not the cost of digitising). A lively and controversial talk is sure to encourage questions – and lots were forthcoming. Anyone who hadn’t been able to make the meeting missed a highly-successful evening. There was even a special service provided: Southern Branch was taking a ‘holiday’ from its usual venue to the Yorkshire Grey (an old haunt, now an attractive brew-pub) and guides were on hand at The Castle to ease the journey for anyone who had gone there in error. As always, the evening ended with spirited informal discussion during the usual free meal: a chance to expand both mind and body! Ralph Adam August 1999.