Digital Copyright

Copyright, as it relates to books and other physical materials is complex enough, but how does the law apply to digital resources? There’s the rub. The Copyright Act, which limits the number of copies one can generate from an original for archiving purposes, doesn’t specifically mention “born digital” works (those created in digital forms).

“If you’re following the law, then you can make only three copies of a work for preservation,” says Laura Gasaway, co-chair of an independent committee created by the Library of Congress (LC) to recommend changes to the Copyright Act to accommodate works that originate in a digital format. “The problem is anytime someone accesses a digital file, such as downloading it to a hard drive, that is considered a digital copy.”

The committee, called the Section 108 Study Group (www.loc.gov/section108), after the specific section of the Copyright Act that the group is considering, plans to tackle this issue, among others, over the next year before proposing possible exceptions to the law for libraries and other institutions that archive digital matter.

After its first meeting in April 2006, the committee will convene in other cities including Los Angeles, where they will hear from film industry experts on issues of digital film preservation, says Gasaway, who is also the director of the law library at the University of North Carolina.

LC has been at the forefront of the conservation and collection of digital material, launching its digital preservation program in December 2000 after Congress appropriated $100 million for the project, says Guy Lamolinara, an LC spokesperson. With the Section 108 Group, LC is now exploring how to make digital collections accessible to researchers and patrons without violating copyrights.

“We are hoping to put this into legislative language that would become amendments to the statute,” says Gasaway. “But it’s important that we recognize the copyright holder has rights and interests, too—and not just the library.”