On Fri, 20 Oct 1995 Meredith Fisher <[log in to unmask]> said:
>Could someone out there recommend a good, entry-level text
>for learning about copyright issues and the arts?
Because copyright is an issue that gathers partisans on one or another
side, it is difficult to find a discussion of the issues that is not
portrayed by a disinterested party. The literature I have found tends to
represent specific points of view: museums, artist, scholars, librarians,
publishers, etc. Off hand, just gathering some stuff sitting on my desk,
and ignoring the NII White Paper and technical discussions of that ilk, I'd
recommend the following:
Paul Goldstein, _Copyright's Highway: The Law and Lore of Copyright from
Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox._ New York, 1994.
Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Copyright, Public Policy, and the
Scholarly Community. Washington, D.C. 1995.
Kenneth D. Crews. _Copyright Law and the Doctoral Dissertation: Guidelines
to your Legal Rights & Responsibilities._ Distributed by UMI (University
Microfilms International), 1992.
There are a number of position papers that have been put out by scholarly
communities. See those by the College Art Association, the Visual Resource
Association, the American Library Association, etc. Below for the VRA web
page.
See also an issue of _Archives and Museum Informatics_ (vol. 8, no. 3) that
contains an interesting article by Christine Steiner on Fair Use and an
editorial by David Bearman called "Copyright is the Regime We Want, Let's
Not Sacrifice It."
There are a number of on-line sites that may prove useful.
The Visual Resources Association (VRA).
http://www.vra.oberlin.edu
The copyright resource center:
http://www.mmwire.com/copyright.html
Intellectual Property gopher:
iitf.doc.gov
Committee for Networked Information
Listserv archives gopher:
gopher.cni.org
CNI-copyright listserv
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Stamford University Copyright Gopher:
gopher://palimpsest.stanford.edu:70/11/ByTopic/copyright
Yahoo Intellectual Property Web Page
http://www.yahoo.com/
(you'll have to dig deeper to find it)
Copyright gopher at Cornell
gopher.law.cornell.edu
(dig deeper)
The U.S. Patent & Trademark office:
http://www.uspto.gov
University of Texas Copyright Center:
http://gold.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/cprtindx.htm
In addition you may look at the conference proceedings of the recent
meeting of the Museum Computer Network in San Diego, and the upcoming
CAA/VRA meeting in Boston (February 1996).
The above may not be a finely hewn selection, but it does contain enough
material to overwhelm almost anybody. For pure enjoyment, and for a good
understanding of the issues and the factors that have come to bear in their
resolution, I'd recommend the Goldstein book. His focus is not the museum,
scholarly and arts community, but he does well in conveying the excitement
and tension when a paradox is found and must be resolved.
--
______________________________________
Robert A. Baron
Museum Computer Consultant
P.O. Box 93, Larchmont, NY 10538
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