Re: Copyright of Public Records and Web Pages

Dean DeBolt <UWF.LIB#u#PO.ddebolt[_at_]neptune.icd.uwf.edu> asked:
>
> Is anyone on the list aware of whether public records can be
> copyrighted? And especially when such are placed on a web page
> (without graphics), is a copyright notice applicable?

I would suggest yes, copyright notices are a useful idea. The full answers are many and various because the jurisdiction of copyright laws are traditionally national, the Web is not.

While most countries have exemptions under their copyright Acts which enable copying of there public records, this does not remove the attribute (right to control copying) from the material. A work can be in the public domain (eg socalled public domain software) without losing it copyright.

In considering University documents as public records you may need to consider:

what kind of University? which funding regime; in which national jurisdiction is the institution registered or based?

Are you including course material?

Here we are currently having this debate in earnest.

What Intellectual Property which belongs to the University appear on the Web. We are conscious that if we wanted to market the course, publishing on the web could damage our own market.

Cathy Davis
Record Management & Copyright Officer,
University of South Australia
cathy.davis[_at_]unisa.edu.au Received on Mon Oct 21 1996 - 06:16:06 GMT