opencontentlawyer.com

Via the Creative Commons blog, Diane Peters CC’s General Counsel has introduces the latest draft of their public domain licensing / dedication tool CC0:

We are pleased to release for public comment the next beta draft of CC0 Waiver, which comes several months after the last draft of CC0 was published in April. You can view the beta draft 3 at ccLabs.

While this draft is being released later than planned (more on that, below), we are very excited about the progress we’ve made on CC0 in the interim. We look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions for improving CC0 still further. Read on to hear more about what has changed and our plans for finalizing CC0 this fall.

Full draft here.

The JISC-sponsored Preservation of Web Resources project (JISC-PoWR) will be running its third and final workshop in Manchester. The series of workshops is aimed at the UK HE/FE records management and Web management communities.

The workshop, entitled ‘Embedding Web Preservation Strategies Within Your Institution’, will be held from 10.30 am - 4pm on Friday 12th September 2008 at the Flexible Learning Space, University of Manchester.

It is free to attend and open to all members of HE/FE Institutions and related HE and FE agencies although we may need to restrict the numbers per institution if we are over-subscribed.

The aim of the workshop is to gain and share feedback from institutional Web, information and records managers on the proposed JISC-PoWR handbook, to address ways of embedding the proposed recommendations into institutional working practices and to solicit ideas for further work which may be needed.

Further details and the booking form are available from the JISC-PoWR blog:
http://jiscpowr.jiscinvolve.org/workshops/workshop-3/

The booking deadline is Friday 5th September 2008 and places are limited.

A quick note to say that the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Information Law (IViR) is hiring for a junior researcher on open content licensing:

The Institute has a position available for a (junior) researcher to work on an ongoing research project on Open Content licensing. IViR is legal partner of Creative Commons NL, which has received substantial funding from the Dutch Ministry of Culture for a variety of Open Content related activities, including legal research.

Full details are available here: Jobs.ac.uk | University of Amsterdam

As part of a trend for opening up publicly funded data, the Cabinet Office’s Power of Information Taskforce has set up a competition to fund projects using public data: Show us a better way. From the site:

The Power of Information Taskforce is helping government become more open, transparent and effective through better use of published information.

This competition is asking for your help in developing better ways to publish the vast swathes of non-personal information that the government collects & creates on your behalf

Public data is your data. Tell us what you’d build with it and you could win £20k to develop your idea to the next level.

The main licence for the government data (non-Ordnance Survey) is the Click Use PSI licence by the Office of Public Sector Information, which is quite liberal in its terms. It meets the terms of the Open Definition by the Open Knowledge Foundation as an open licence.

Just a quick note to say that as of 1 July the US Copyright Office is allowing online registration. From the Library of Congress NewsNet:

Beginning July 1, 2008, the Copyright Office is offering online registration of claims to copyright. Online registration through the electronic Copyright Office (eCO) is the preferred way to register basic claims for literary works; visual arts works; performing arts works, including motion pictures; sound recordings; and single serials. Advantages of online filing include a lower filing fee; the fastest processing time; online status tracking of your claim; secure payment by credit or debit card, electronic check, or Copyright Office deposit account; and the ability to upload certain categories of deposits directly into eCO as electronic files. To register your claim electronically, go to the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov and click on the eCO logo.

Registration is not required to have a copyright in the US, however the work originates in the US you must register in order to file a lawsuit or to claim statutory copyright damages, among other rights. For more, see the FAQ by the Copyright Office: Copyright Registration.

I mentioned my involvement on the legal aspects of this project in an earlier post — the project is having its first event on the 27th of June. For more see below:

The JISC-sponsored Preservation of Web Resources project (JISC-PoWR) will be running its first workshop in London. The aim of the series of workshops is to gain and share feedback from institutional Web, information and records managers about the challenges presented by Web resources.

The first workshop, entitled ‘Preservation of Web Resources: Making a Start’, will be held from 10.30 am - 4pm on Friday 27th June 2008 at Senate House Library, University of London. The workshop is free to
members of HE/FE Institutions and related HE and FE agencies.

Further details are available from the JISC-PoWR blog:
http://jiscpowr.jiscinvolve.org/workshops/workshop-1/

The booking deadline is Friday 16th June

Last year I produced a guide for the International IP Institute on the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. The guide is an overview aimed at small and medium sized enterprises and consumers on the ins and outs of the process, together with links for more detailed information. I’m happy to say that the report is now out:

The UDRP: A Guide for SMEs and Consumers on Domain Names and Domain Name Disputes

See their announcement for the link.

Blog: The UDRP - A Guide for SMEs.

Special thanks go to all those who provided feedback as I was working on it and to Molly Torsen and the IIPI for sponsoring the work.

I am happy to announce the JISC-PoWR project and blog . I’m working with the great folks at UKOLN and the University of London Computer Center and providing some assistance on the legal issues for a project about the preservation of web resources (PoWR). Look for some posts on these issues over there, as well as a talk at one of our upcoming events. The official ITT is here: "JISC ITT: The Preservation of Web Resources Workshops and Handbook ". Special thanks go to Brian Kelly of UK Web Focus blog and UKOLN for looping me into the project.

Just a quick note to say that I’ll be speaking on open data, law, and licensing at State of the Map on 12-13 July in Limerick, Ireland. UPDATE 2 July - will be unable to make it this year due to a schedule conflict. My apologies….

State of the Map is the annual conference for Open Street Map.

Registration is now open.

Open Access and Research Conference 2008

Stamford Plaza Hotel, Brisbane, Queensland 24-25 September 2008

Conference site: http://www.oar2008.qut.edu.au/

This conference will, among other things, cover open data, and looks really interesting. Please check it out…