Management and Use of Copyright Material in the Networked Environment

The following document was prepared for the Second International Meeting on National Digital Cultural Content Creation Strategies in an effort to build consensus within the educational and cultural community on the management and use of copyrighted works in the digital environment.

The assembly represents the interests of the creators, owners, distributors and users of copyrighted material. Although many individuals within this system are insulated from direct dependence on economic returns from specific intellectual properties, some institutions, such as museums, university presses, and scholarly societies, depend on the revenue from copyright ownership to support their educational, dissemination, and preservation missions.

Rights Investigation & Declaration

Those creating a digital resource have a responsibility to investigate ownership and rights issues before digitization commences. If ownership or rights status cannot be determined, it is important to maintain documentation of the investigation. Metadata indicating the rights status of a digital resource should always accompany it.

Privacy

Respect for personal privacy should be incorporated into access and management systems for the control and tracking of networked copyright material.

The Principle of Balance in Copyright Law

While copyright law offers a bundle of exclusive rights to the copyright owner of a work, it also recognizes limits to those rights for the public interest. Digital technologies enable unlimited distribution of material that can violate the rights of copyright holders while they also enable the locking up of works preventing them from being used in ways allowed by law. If unbalanced, either trend could undermine core educational functions as well as radically transform the information marketplace.

We therefore maintain the critical value of fairness and balance between the rights of copyright owners and the public interest in broad affordable access to cultural resources. Copyright law is a critical tool in safeguarding the balance between private interest and public good.

New Economic Models

Copyright law should foster the maintenance of a viable economic framework of relations between owners and users of copyrighted works. An essential part of the system of access to cultural material is payment to the owners of copyright material in the form of profit or cost recovery. Experimentation in new economic models made possible by new technologies to support the creation, maintenance, delivery and preservation of digital resources should be encouraged.

Limitations & Exemptions

However, the access to and limited use of copyrighted material for educational and other purposes without the permission of the copyright owner, as well as other limitations and exemptions to the rights of copyright owners as allowed for under national law and international treaties, is in the public interest and should be guaranteed in the digital environment.

Public Domain

Equitable access to a robust and well-maintained public domain of our cultural heritage is essential to the public good and the health of the cultural life of all nations. Copyright law should thus promote the maintenance of a robust public domain for intellectual properties.

International Policy Frameworks

In order to foster global cooperation, particularly with respect to access to cultural information across boundaries, all governments should develop clear and accessible information policies. Those policies should seek to balance financial opportunity with opportunities to reach new audiences and to promote open and democratic societies. National and international demonstration projects could show open and equitable access as a means to these ends.