Comments on digital-copyright Digest 25 Jun 2003 15:00:00 -0000 Issue 207

["Paul Uhlir" <PUhlir@xxxxxxx>]

Re: [lists] Public Domain in Other Countries
     478 by: Edward Barrow

Edward Barrow is not fully correct about information being
in the public domain only upon expiration of the term of copyright.
In the U.S., the federal government does not allow copyright
protection (or any other IP protection) of any works produced
by it, pursuant to an exemption in 17 U.S.C. sec. 105 of the
Copyright Act of 1976. Other governments exempt certain
information from protection by statute (e.g., judicial decisions,
the text of legislation, etc.). Generally speaking, the countries
in the E.U. are much more protective of public-sector information
than the U.S.

For a lot more detail about the legal aspects of public-domain
information, see the recent collection of papers from a Duke Law
School Conference on the Public Domain in the most recent
volume of the Law & Contemporary Problems Journal at:
http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/lcp/.

For an extensive discussion of science policy, law, and economics
of public domain and open access in scientific information, see
the results of two symposia on that topic that I recently organized.
For the symposium that focused on the situation in the U.S., see:
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/biso/Public%20Domain%20Symposium.html/.
For the international focus, see the symposium Web site at
 www.codata.org/.  The proceedings from both symposia will be
available freely later this year at the National Academies Press
Web site at: www.nap.edu/.

Finally, I am preparing for UNESCO "Policy Guidelines for the
Development and Promotion of Public Domain Information," which
will be used to help advise developing countries on planning and
implementing public domain status and open access approaches
to their public information resources. The draft Guidelines are
currently on the UNESCO Web site for public comment at:
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ev.php?URL_ID=8376&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1047490774
Comments may be submitted until July 15. The Guidelines will
be finalized this fall as part of UNESCO's contribution to the
World Summit for an Information Society.

Paul Uhlir


Paul F. Uhlir, J.D.
Director, International S&T Information Programs
The National Academies
500 Fifth Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
U.S.A.
Tel. (202) 334 2807  (x1531 direct)
Fax (202) 334 2231
E-mail: puhlir@xxxxxxx