RE: Copyright of previous public domain

["Peter Picerno" <ppicerno@nova.edu>]

That begins to smack of the Tasini/NYTimes judgement which (among other
things) ascertained that a microfilm did not constitute a new 'continer'
while a digitized copy did ... perhaps more clarification on this issue is
necessary.

Dr. Peter V. Picerno
Acquisitions and Serials Librarian
Nova Southeastern University Libraries
3100 Ray Ferrero Jr Blvd
Fort Lauderdale   FL   33314-7796
(954) 262-4662
FAX (954) 262-3946

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 7:57 AM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: Copyright of previous public domain


I think the issue here might be the copyright on the format of the
material rather than on the content itself. The vendor has spent the money
to digitize and presumably index the material, and the argument can be
made that such effort is protected.

--
Shirley Lambert
Associate Publisher and Editorial Director
Scarecrow Press
4720 Boston Way
Lanham, MD  20706
W. 301-459-3366 x5304
F. 301-429-5747

___

"Lofts, Kalletta Kathleen" wrote:

> I am currently negotiating with an electronic database vendor who has
> included in their license copyright restrictions on government documents
> that were previous public domain in print form.  The vendor argues that
> all contents of their database are copyrighted, and do not want to delete
> like license clause.  This concerns me because our patrons are used to
> these documented being free from copyright.  But even more distressing -
> this issue brings up a bigger problem of third party copyright
> restrictions of any electronic contents, and whether libraries can fight
> that.
>
> I would like to know how anyone has handled a similar case, and especially
> if anyone has been able to get electronic content vendors to changes such
> restrictions.  What was the outcome, and how have you handled this sort of
> third party copyright restriction of electronic content?
>
> Thanks,
> Kalletta Lofts