Copyright Revolution

iCopyright to present at SALT - Society for Applied Learning Technology. Friday, February 22, 2008, Orlando, Florida. Conference details at: http://www.salt.org/fl/orlandoP.asp

Session Description:

Almost all works of authorship, whether for teaching, news or entertainment, are protected by copyright. Authors signify their ownership of the material and what rights they reserve, if any, by applying the copyright symbol. The copyright symbol is a public notice of ownership. The problem is that the copyright notice is not actionable. It does not communicate whether the author is truly the rights holder. It does not communicate anything about the author or what other works s/he has authored. The copyright notice does not allow people who see the works to obtain permission to use them, or to contact the author about using the work for teaching purposes or commercial purposes.

Until recently, the principles of copyright— and how it is applied — had not changed since it was invented in the 1600’s. Modern copyright systems like Creative Commons, iCopyright and CCC Rightslink, have tried to address copyright shortcomings and to advance the state-of-the-art. However, these advances have been an evolution in copyright, not a revolution. This session will propose a revolution in copyright, particularly as it applies to individual rights holders and the works they create for learning and knowledge awareness.