Know Your Rights: Licensing, Copyright, Fair Use, and Technological Protection Measures in Electronic Resources

Abstract

As libraries shift to a greater reliance on electronic resources, the use rights that libraries and patrons have grown accustomed to are changing. Legal restrictions on use are no longer defined solely by copyright law, but instead by license agreements in combination with copyright law.

Technological constraints may now also limit use. Resources were once protected from copyright violation mostly by the inconvenience and expense of photocopying; but now digital technologies have made reproduction and distribution much easier, and some publishers have responded by installing "Digital Rights Management" (more accurately termed Technological Protection Measures, or TPMs) to control use of their electronic products.

This panel will explore the difficulties of determining rights and permissions in the complex legal and technical landscape of copyright law, license agreements and TPMs, and explore whether technological protection measures accurately reflect the legal restrictions that licenses and copyright law impose.