Transcript Copyright & Risk:

COPYRIGHT & RISK:
Scoping Codebreakers and the Wellcome Digital Library
Victoria Stobo
University of Glasgow
[email protected]
The RCUK Centre for Copyright and
New Business Models in the Creative
Economy
 CREATe is an academic initiative designed to help the UK
cultural and creative industries thrive within the global
digital economy
 40 projects will be delivered by an interdisciplinary team –
including lawyers, economists, computer scientists,
sociologists, psychologists, ethnographers and archivists –
over the next three years.
Copyright and risk
 Copyright & Risk is the first of these projects to complete.
The project has three deliverables:
1) Archives and Copyright: Risk and Reform, a
working paper, published in March 2013;
2) This conference, Archives & Copyright:
Developing an Agenda for Reform, and;
3) A project report, due to be published in
November 2013, the findings of which I will
discuss today.
Archives and Copyright: Risk and Reform
 Review of current, and proposed changes to, UK copyright law, and
of available literature on making archive collections available online
 Literature reveals that:
• Rights clearance procedures impose prohibitive burdens on
cultural institutions
• The cost of rights clearance outstrips that of digitisation and the
monetary value of the work itself
• In most cases, the results of rights clearance processes are
unsatisfactory – rightsholders cannot be traced, or do not respond
• The burden is greater for archives than for libraries, because their
collections are significantly larger, contain more orphan works,
and contain more sensitive information.
Copyright and risk: Project Report
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15th April – 7th June 2013
7 interviews at the Wellcome Library
6 interviews with the 3rd parties
1 email exchange
20 respondents in total
Approx. 15 hours of material
12 policy documents
Transcripts & documents: Approx 530 pages of material
Rights clearance results
Identified
Medium & High Risk
Rightsholders
Traced
84% of those identified
Replied
79% of those traced
Permission granted
98% of those who replied
Permission denied
2% of those who replied
Did Not Respond
22% of those traced
Orphan Works
16% of those identified
Wellcome Risk Management strategy
In-copyright material
Risk criteria for identifying
rightsholders likely to object
to publication
Potentially sensitive material
Wellcome Library follows
Access to Archives policy to
determine access to sensitive
material
Diligent search methods to
trace and contact those
rightsholders
Takedown Policy
Applies to ALL material published on the Wellcome Library website.
Risk criteria – Medium Risk
When all three factors apply the material is medium-risk
and should be added to the long list:
• The author/creator has (or had) a high public profile.
• The author/creator is alive or is known to have a literary
estate as recorded in the WATCH File
• The material appears to have been published/broadcast
and/or prepared for commercial gain, rather than to
advance academic knowledge or in a not-for-profit
environment.
Risk criteria – High Risk
If any one of the following apply, the material is classed as
high-risk and should be added to the long-list:
• The author/creator is a well-known literary figure,
broadcaster or artist;
• The author/creator/literary estate/publisher is known
to actively defend their copyright;
• The relationship between the holding institution and the
author/creator/publisher is awkward;
• There is a large proportion of material from an
author/creator which appears to be in-copyright, i.e.
More than 20% in a box.
Managing sensitive data with
Access to Archives
• Wellcome Library use a percentage-checking strategy
• University College London use a similar policy
• Cold Spring Harbour Labs (CSHL) adopted the
Wellcome policy for the project
• Churchill Archives Centre– Franklin collection did not
contain sensitive data
• CSHL, King’s College London and Glasgow University
Archive Services would not digitise material containing
sensitive data.
Communication – extract from
Codebreakers FAQs
Are creators/authors/publishers paid for granting
permission to use their material on the WDL?
No. The aim of the Wellcome Digital Library is to make
available copies of important archive collections which
are already preserved by, and freely available to see at,
the partner organisations. This project is being
undertaken to promote research and interest in the
history of genetics for the benefit of all. We hope that
copyright-holders will support this goal by allowing
material to be digitised without seeking payment.
Communication – extract from
Codebreakers FAQs
How will the Wellcome Digital Library deal with sensitive
personal data?
Some of the collections being digitised contain sensitive
information, e.g. Medical records and other personal
information. The Wellcome Library’s Access to Archives
policy outlines the steps we take to balance the Library’s
duty of care to individuals mentioned in collections with the
legitimate requirements of researchers, and can be
found at: http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/about-thissite/copyright-clearance-andtakedown/. All archive
collections are assessed for sensitive data before they are
made available online.
Reputation – using it and losing it
• Reputation was an important factor in convincing
rightsholders to grant permission – the reputations of
both the partner archives and the Wellcome Library
played a part.
• Damaging these reputations was considered by all to be
the main risk associated with the Codebreakers project
• Reputational damage may effect relationships with
current and future depositors, and with stakeholders
Why is risk management relevant to you?
• Consider:
The level of access you intend to provide
The type of collection you want to digitise
The type of digitisation you intend to engage in
The ownership of the material
The effect of legislation
• Take Peter Hirtle’s advice –
Explain, Solicit, Document and Avoid Commercial
Use
Final points
• If you manage to find archive rightsholders, the vast
majority say ‘yes’ to a permission to publish request
• They don’t want your money
• If you are prepared to accept a certain amount of risk,
you can make more material available online
• If you are engaging in digitisation of in-copyright
material, are thinking about it, or if you have previous
experience of rights clearance, I would like to talk to
you!
Archives & Copyright: Developing an
agenda for reform
Event page:
www.create.ac.uk/archivesandcopyright2013
Archives and Copyright: Risk and Reform is available at:
www.create.ac.uk/publications/archives-and-copyrightrisk-and-reform/
Risk criteria
Medium Risk
High Risk
When all three factors apply the
material is medium risk and should
be added to the long list:
If any one of the following apply, the
material is high risk and should be
added to the long list:
• The author/creator has (or had) a
high public profile.
• The author/creator is alive or is
known to have a literary estate as
recorded in the WATCH File
• The material appears to have been
published/broadcast and/or
prepared for commercial gain,
rather than to advance academic
knowledge or in a not-for-profit
environment.
• The author/creator is a well-known
literary figure, broadcaster or artist.
• The author/creator/literary estate/
publisher is known to actively
defend their copyright
• The relationship between the
holding institution and the
author/creator/publisher is
awkward.
• There is a large proportion of
material from an author/creator
which appears to be in copyright,
i.e. more than 20% in a box.