ALLA (WA) News Blog

ALLA NSW invites all ALLA members to attend an online CPD Event.  Navigating Copyright for Australian Law Libraries Discover the intricacies of copyright law and its impact on law libraries in Australia with Sarah Powell and Elliott Bledsoe from the Australian Libraries and Archives Copyright Coalition. Gain insights into the latest government reviews and reforms that have a significant impact on libraries and archives. Join us for an informative session on how to navigate the complex copyright landscape and stay up to date with the latest developments in this area. When: Wednesday 19th of April 1pm AEST Cost: Free to ALLA members, join us if you are interested Hashtag: #ALLACopyright Where:  Zoom - link has been distributed via the ALLA-ANZ Google Group.  About the Speakers: Sarah Powell, Copyright Law & Policy Adviser, ALACC Sarah is a copyright specialist with extensive experience in copyright-related roles in cultural heritage and educational institutions and ori...

From the Hansard of 13 November 2019, we have a report of a significant development in Western Australian legislation and its future use by the legal profession in Western Australia. The relevant passage can be found on the WA Parliament website (page 8830 of 2019)  and is excerpted below. WESTERN AUSTRALIAN LEGISLATION WEBSITE — COPYRIGHT  Statement by Attorney General MR J.R. QUIGLEY (Butler — Attorney General) [12.03 pm]: I rise to inform the house of a change to the way that copyright applies to WA legislation and the WA legislation website. In June last year, while second reading the Legislation Bill 2018, I flagged my intention to consider relaxing the current approach, which is quite conservative and restrictive compared with other jurisdictions, such as the commonwealth, Queensland, South Australia and the United Kingdom. These jurisdictions take a more open approach to the re-use of legislative data. Their legislation websites are covered by what is kn...

A discussion  paper on the impact of next year's copyright law changes on Australian libraries  is available over at  National and State Libraries Australia .  

In a Legal Insight post from 2014, ‘The Future of Law: Disappearing Legal Library and Virtual Firms’ an infographic showed that by 2044 45% of respondents surveyed believed that their legal library would virtually disappear. Ignoring the opportunities to analyse the phrase “ virtually disappear”, I’m choosing to assume that this is in reference to physical floor space. Sure, there’s our physical collections will continue to shrink – but even by 2044, I doubt that everything we hold in print will be available electronically. Or at least in a functional way. A more recent Thomson Reuters Whitepaper, Law Libraries’ Digital Revolution , discusses the benefits of moving to eBook collections.  Now, I’m pro eBook in theory. If only they worked the same as a hardcopy.  Consider: Mental topography, or, when we read on dead trees, do we retain more? (See: The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens ). eBooks don’t necessa...

A Collection of Impossible Ideas - Copyright Law Are you interested in what copyright law could look like if we started with a blank slate? Free of treaty obligations, business models and politics, what might copyright law be like in the future if it were designed to further the public interest? Monash Law School would like to invite you to register for our 23 January complimentary webcast, facilitated by Dr Rebecca Giblin, Director of Graduate Studies at Monash Law School. Dr Giblin will present the results of ‘ a collection of impossible ideas’, a thought provoking project that explores how the law could better procure to creators the fruits of their labours, ensure better outcomes for the world’s most disadvantaged populations and solve orphan works. You’re invited you to take part in this special conversation by tuning in on 23 January. Can’t make the date? Everyone who registers will receive via email the full video, audio and slide deck of the presentation. So, if...

IPKat image from IPKat blog, CC-BY licence Anyone who is interested in keeping current with intellectual property should have a look at the IPKat blog , which offers news and analysis on IP: Since June 2003 the IPKat weblog has covered copyright, patent, trade mark, info-tech and privacy/confidentiality issues from a mainly UK and European perspective. A recent post offers a handy round-up of trends in IP data , as usual with plenty of memes to lighten up this difficult subject area. IPKat is also on Twitter .

Electronic Information For Libraries (EIFL) held a webinar on 5 February 2016 on 'Library copyright statutes around the world: trends and developments', featuring Professor Kenneth D. Crews. According to EIFL's summary, Prof. Crews "set out the connection between libraries and copyright, reviewed examples of library provisions in no fewer than 25 countries, and looked at challenges for the future." The presentation materials can be downloaded as slides [PDF] or video  (42 mins).

Formats of content available under CC licences. Graphic from the  State of the Commons report 2015,  licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .  Glyphicons by Jan Kovařík CC BY 3.0 It was reported this month that since 2002, creators have applied 1 billion Creative Commons licences to their works allowing others to access, share, and reuse them for free. According to the State of the Commons report : "If we want to live in a digital world that is fair, diverse, vibrant, serendipitous, and safe for everyone, we will have to choose to make it that way. If that world is going to be accessible, equitable, and full of innovation and opportunity, it will require our leadership to foster and defend these ideals. Founded in 2001, Creative Commons has created legal and technical infrastructure that is fundamental to the Web we know and love. Today, our work goes beyond the ubiquitous CC licenses to foster cooperation and sharing, support ...

The recent secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations have alarmed advocates for balanced approaches to copyright. The agreement takes the American lead in extended terms of copyright in all signing jurisdictions to the life of a work's creator plus 70 years. This doesn't affect Australian law, which already applies this term, but the agreement has prompted much discussion about the lengthy term of copyright and its purpose. This article in The Conversation by Catherine Bond (UNSW) briefly argues that rather than extending the length of copyright, a "strong public domain provides significant economic benefits". For more analysis, check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation and ALIA's FAIR campaign . ALLA(WA) Secretary - Megan Fitzgibbons. Librarian, University of Western Australia.

International Open Access Week begins today, 19th October. This annual event aims to raise awareness of the beneficial impacts of open access publishing and to "inspire wider participation" in this way of disseminating knowledge. The conversation is happening on Twitter as well as at local community events, particularly hosted by universities. Some Australian events are listed by the Australasian Open Access Support Group . While much of the discussion about open access is related to scholarly publishing, the issue is also of prime importance in the realm of legal information. The Declaration on Free Access to Law , made in 2002 at a meeting of legal information institutes, states that "Public legal information from all countries and international institutions is part of the common heritage of humanity. Maximising access to this information promotes justice and the rule of law". The Free Access to Law Movement continues to grow and influence the way that leg...

Law librarians already know that they contribute significantly to their organisations, but it's always great when this can be proved to others in a dramatic fashion! The story of University of Pittsburgh law librarians Linda Tashbook and Marc Silverman is certainly a boon to the profession. The pair retrieved an old copy of The Everyday Song Book from the university's library and made it available to lawyers in the the American class-action lawsuit Good Morning To You Productions Corp . v Warner/Chappell Music, Inc . The book is being submitted as evidence that the term of copyright has expired on the song "Happy Birthday", meaning that Warner/Chappell Music is not entitled to royalties. Read more in these reports: Law Librarians May Have Killed World’s Biggest Copyright Troll ( Above the Law blog) Pitt Law Librarians Help Uncover Smoking Gun Evidence in Historic “Happy Birthday” Song Lawsuit ( Pitt Law news)

The Australian Libraries Copyright Committee is offering training sessions in Perth on Monday, 27 July. The sessions are free to to member organisations and their employees - ALIA, NSLA, CAUL, NLA, AGLIN, NAA, CAARA and Aust Soc Archivists ( note: ALLA is not included ). Each half day session costs $60 for non-members. For more details and registration information, visit the ALCC website . Space is limited, so don't delay!

Image by Horia Varlan from Flickr , used under CC BY 2.0 Roshan Khadka from the Copyright Agency gave a presentation on Copyright Licensing and the Copyright Act to 11 ALLA (WA) members yesterday, 20th May 2015. While law firms are regularly assisted by helpful sections in the Copyright Act 1968 (s 43), most people don’t realise that they are in fact violating the Copyright Act when: A fee earner or staff member emails an news article to another fee earner or staff member about a client or current situation A fee earner forwards a news or journal article – something published – internally to another employee or externally on to a client or a friend A staff member goes to a competitor’s website, downloads an article or newsletter that the competitor firm has written and forwards it internally to another staff member. A fee earner is writing an article for marketing purposes and needs to research the position and therefore downloads a mass of articles from their LexisNexis subs...

In preparation for our upcoming Copyright and Law Firms event (RSVP by 18th May!), this brief blog post from the Australian Libraries Copyright Committee is worth a read. The piece describes the contradiction between copyright parameters prescribed by law and the restrictive licences drafted by many content providers. If we transferred this way of thinking to the print world, it wouldn't make sense: Imagine a world where every book on every library shelf had different terms and conditions of use. Where before book was borrowed a ledger was consulted as to acceptable uses for that book. Where some books may be taken home, others read only in the library, still others only read by certain people, at certain times and in certain ways. But this is the world that we create with licenced resources. The post points to international position statements as well as copyright reform proposals that would disallow licences from overriding use rights granted by copyright law. The next ...

ALLA(WA) invites members to a brown bag lunch session: Copyright & Law Firms. This session will look at how the Copyright Act 1968 applies to the daily workflow of law firms. Roshan Khadka from Copyright Agency will present on: Copyright101 - refresher on copyright law basics Definitions and practical examples Application to workplace activities, and client communication Common copyright myths and pitfalls Exceptions in the Act related to law firms and compliance gaps Risks, tips and solutions Where : Corrs, Level 15, 240 St Georges Terrace, Perth When : Wednesday, 20th May 2015 @ 12.30pm - 2pm RSVP : Luise Crisafulli ( lcrisafulli@chambers.francisburt.com.au ) by Monday 18th May 2015

Good news from the Australian Libraries Copyright Committee (ALCC). The ALCC has released a media statement saying that there will be no extension to authorisation liability under the current online copyright infringement proposals, which were outlined last week by the Communications Minister and Attorney-General.