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M E E T I N G R E P O R T

Copyright in a changing world

Do you remember Charlotte Proudman? She was the barrister whocriticised a senior lawyer, Alexander Carter-Silk, for sending her a sexist

!ri"ate message on #inked $n% Charlotte then tweeted a !icture of it% &ad

she used any other form of social or !rinted media to !ublicise Carter-

Silks message she would !robably ha"e been acting illegally' breaching

his co!yright% (e-!osting !ri"ate corres!ondence is only one exam!le of

the im!act co!yright can ha"e on our li"es% And why we all need to be

aware of its im!lications%

)ur )ctober e"ening meeting featured a talk by Professor Charles)!!enheim on why an understanding of co!yright basics is im!ortant fore"eryone% *he "enue was the +ritish Com!uter Societys excellent Co"entarden !remises the e"ent was run .ointly with their+usiness $nformation Systems S!ecialist rou!%

Professor )!!enheims !rofessional interests range from legal as!ects ofinformation to the future of scholarly !ublishing% &e has held !osts in bothacademia and !ublishing, recei"ing ma.or awards for ser"ices to the

information world% Amongst his many abilities are a knack of /ndingamusing exam!les to bring dry to!ics to life and being able to ex!laindi0cult sub.ects with clarity and bre"ity% +oth were "ery ably exhibited inthis talk%

Charles began by recalling the origins of his interest in intellectual!ro!erty 1 as Director of (2D for Derwent Publications, the well-known!roducer of secondary ser"ices for !atent s!ecialists and later at Rubberworld3surely, a candidate for Have I got news for yous 4any maga4ine ofthe week56%

Charles de/ned co!yright as the right to !re"ent others from co!ying, orfrom doing certain other things with, ones material% $t a!!lies to "irtuallyall formats' literary, musical or artistic works, as well as sound and audio-"isual recordings 1 each of which, under 7nglish law, has subtly di8erenttraditions and rules% Com!uter-generated out!uts are considered to ha"ebeen created by the !rogrammer% Co!yright does not im!ly literary merit5

Charles focussed on literary works 3hand-written, !rinted or in machine-readable form 1 including original web content6% &e em!hasised that aclaim to co!yright must both in"ol"e no"elty 3i%e% it cant be a co!y6 andha"e been created by a human 3rather than, for exam!le, a robot or amonkey6% 9hile collectionsof facts may ha"e co!yright, there is no such

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right in indi"idual ideas, facts or brief items% :n!ublished or!han worksare es!ecially !roblematic%

9hile co!yright generally lasts for se"enty years from the creators death,certain un!ublished works 3e%g% historically- or culturally-im!ortantmedi;"al

manuscri!ts6 ha"e an extended ex!iration of % Some librarians andarchi"ists criticise this rule, but the only +ritish !olitical !arties to ha"ecam!aigned for a change ha"e been the reen and Pirate !arties%

Charles 4i!!ed through the key conce!ts 1 ownershi!, !ermission and licensing,ex!iration, infringement, web links, risk-management, o!en-access and theexce!tions, such as fair dealing% &e ended with a summary of !ost-