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The Fourth lecture of the Archives & Recordkeeping
in the Digital Era: Lectures and Ruminations
co-sponsored by the Society of American Archivists Student
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Jean Ann Croft
Preservation Librarian
University of Pittsburgh
"Licensed Databases and the First Sale
Doctrine"
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Friday, April 16, 2004 |
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Are licensed database publishers similar to the Stationers
Company in assuming total control by monopolizing the
access and dissemination of the information found in
electronic publications? During the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, several European countries enacted printing
privileges with the intent to limit access and censure
what they deemed to be sacrilegious or contrary to the
accepted beliefs of that time. Simultaneously, these
countries did not afford any protection to the creators
of the "heretical" works. In essence, the printing privileges
serve as an interesting paradox as a precursor to copyright,
because the final objective was to limit access to information
by controlling the distribution of works , while the
U.S. copyright law today strives to do the opposite by
protecting the publishing interests of the creators and
limiting censorship. However, information in the digital
world is moving in a direction of contracts and licenses
threatening the disappearance of the public domain as
well as the first sale doctrine. A closer glimpse into
the history of copyright and the first sale doctrine
will reveal how society once again utilizes technology
to restrict access to information, as did the Stationers
Company in
Medieval England.
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| webmaster
For more information
about the Library and Information Science Program,
please call 412.624.9420 or e-mail Debbie Day
School of Information
Sciences, University of Pittsburgh,
135 North Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: 412.624.3988 | Fax: 412.624.5231
For information about Admissions & Financial Aid, please
contact
Shabana Reza at 800.672.9435
Information Science & Technology Email: isinq@sis.pitt.edu
Telecommunications Email: teleinq@sis.pitt.edu
Library & Information Science Email: lisinq@sis.pitt.edu
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