Should There Be A Penalty For Falsely Claiming Copyright Over Public Domain Material?; TechDirt, 6/26/09

Mike Masnick via TechDirt; Should There Be A Penalty For Falsely Claiming Copyright Over Public Domain Material?:

"Slashdot and The Register point us to a new paper by Jason Mazzone about "copyfraud" -- or the ability of someone to claim copyright on something that is in the public domain. The issue, Mazzone points out, is that there's no penalty for falsely claiming copyright on something, so there's plenty of incentive to claim something is still covered even if it's not."

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090626/1421065375.shtml

Copyfraud: Poisoning the public domain; The Register, 6/26/09

Charles Eicher via The Register; Copyfraud: Poisoning the public domain: How web giants are stealing the future of knowledge:

"The public domain is the greatest resource in human history: eventually all knowledge will become part of it. Its riches serve all mankind, but it faces a new threat. Vast libraries of public domain works are being plundered by claims of "copyright". It's called copyfraud - and we'll discover how large corporations like Google, Yahoo, and Amazon have structured their businesses to assist it and profit from it."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/26/copyfraud/

Cornell Library Lifts Restrictions on Public Domain Works; Library Journal.com, 5/14/09

Josh Hadro via Library Journal.com; Cornell Library Lifts Restrictions on Public Domain Works: 70,000 public domain works contributed to the Internet Archive:

"Coinciding with the donation of 70,000 public domain works to the Internet Archive, the Cornell University Library has announced that it will no longer requires users to seek permission to reuse public domain materials for any purpose.

According to the library's statement, the shift in practice stems from a desire to be consistent with the library and faculty's commitment to Open Access...

Because the materials in question are already in the public domain, and because no new rights to restrict usage of the material are granted during the digitization process, researchers technically had the legal right to use and republish the materials. Indeed, the announcement acknowledges that the tension between institutional licensing policies and users rights can lead to charges of copyfraud, something Cornell hopes to avoid with the codification of this new policy."

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6658219.html