[ok-scotland] Open Licensing at the National Library of Scotland

Mon Nov 10 08:42:48 UTC 2014

Hi Lorna,

The policy described how the Library will approach licensing the digital
photographs that we make of works. It would be copyfraud for us to claim
intellectual property in original items where the copyright has lapsed and
the work’s IP passed into the public domain. We do not claim intellectual
property ownership in original items that are in the public domain. What we
do, as is common in the UK, is claim a new copyright in digitisations. This
is copyright in the photograph, as a new intellectual work involving a
certain level of skill and effort, and is no claim on the IP in the
original. As you allude, it is public domain items that we are digitising.
Our new policy moves us towards a more open licensing approach to our new
photographic works. The practice of claiming copyright in digitisations is
an interesting and complex one, which is often debated. For example, it is
not possible to claim a new copyright ownership in digitisations in United
States law. This was laid down in the Bridgeman Art library v. Corel Corp.
case in 1999. However, in the UK this is a common and legally established
approach.

Cheers,

Fred

On 3 November 2014 10:30, Lorna M Campbell <lorna.m.campbell at icloud.com>
wrote:

> Hi Euan,
>
> Many thanks for highlighting these initiatives. These are hugely positive
> developments both in terms of sharing CC0 metadata and increasing access to
> open licensed cultural heritage resources, both of which have significant
> relevance to open education.  Congratulations to all those at the National
> Library involved in these initiatives.
>
> Best Wishes
> Lorna
>
>
>
> On 2 Nov 2014, at 14:22, Ewan Klein wrote:
>
> Hi everyone
>
> The National Library of Scotland is working on procedures and guidance to
> support a new and developing Metadata and Digital Content Licensing policy.
> As part of this work the Library has released collection metadata
> associated with the First World War Official Photographs under a CC0
> license to The European Library (TEL) for inclusion in both its portal and
> in Europeana. The Library will continue to release further CC0 licensed
> metadata to TEL and Europeana over the coming months.
>
> The policy development is also being informed by a limited release of
> digital content to the WikiCommons project.  More than 1,000 digital images
> have been released into the Public Domain, including photographs of the
> construction of the Forth Bridge and The Tay Bridge Disaster enquiry;
> images from the historic book Scotia Depicta; nineteenth century posters
> and photographs from Edinburgh theatres; and images from Walter Blaikie’s
> collection of Jacobite broadsides.
>
> See more at:
> http://scot.okfn.org/2014/10/27/open-licensing-at-the-national-library-of-scotland
>
> Regards,
>
> Ewan
>
> -------------
> Ewan Klein
> Open Knowledge Ambassador for Scotland
> Skype:  ewan.h.klein |  @ewanhklein
> http://scot.okfn.org/  |  @okfnscot
>
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>
> -- Lorna M Campbell --
> Assistant Director, Cetis
> Web: www.cetis.ac.uk
> Blog: lornamcampbell.wordpress.com
> Mail: lorna.m.campbell at icloud.com
> Twitter: LornaMCampbell
> Skype: lorna120768
>
>
>
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-- 
Fredric Saunderson
saunderson.me | @fredsaunderson <https://twitter.com/fredsaunderson>
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