LibraryPundit

Carla Hayden Nominated by President Obama as Librarian for the Library of Congress

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 12:58:00 +0000

Carla Hayden was nominated by President Obama to be the nation's top librarian as the head of the Library of Congress.

See the article at NPR by Elizabeth Blair in Obama Nominates Carla Hayden To Lead Library Of Congress.

Hayden would be the first woman and first black to hold the position.

Library Cutbacks and Expensive Journals Tempt Academics to Try Alternative Access Routes That Bypass Copyrights

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 12:52:00 +0000

ACI reports on a new problem facing academic research, namely, that Expensive Journals Drive Academics To Break Copyright Law. As written there:

"A new pirate website called Sci-Hub [in Russia] allows free access to academic journals behind paywalls. Heather Joseph, an advocate for legal open access, explains the situation to Linda Wertheimer..."

Registration is required at ACI to access the above explanation.

Hat tip to "ACI Focus Posts: Select Posts from the ACI Team" at http://aci.info/.

The Library Question from the New York Times

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 23:24:00 +0000

What about the future of the public library?

Do We Still Need Libraries? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Library Law: Copyrights, Fair Use and Copying of Copyrighted Materials for Educational Use: Course Reserves via Digital Delivery of Supplemental Materials (Electronic Reserves, E-Reserves)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:53:00 +0000

What is done is not always allowed, and what is allowed is not always done.

Which copyrighted materials -- and how much of any copyrighted publication -- can be copied and used freely as "fair use" in teaching? or research? 10%? 15%? What about digital copies? and what about their distribution?

A recent landmark case involves digital supplemental online reading materials (so-called "course reserves" viz. e-reserves) at Georgia State University. That case is Cambridge University Press v. Becker (Case No. 1:08-cv-01425, N.D. of Georgia, May 11, 2012), which according to Publishers Weekly has been appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Georgia State case should serve to better define what is allowed and what is not allowed in terms of digital fair use educational copying.

Indeed, we think the case may be reversed because the laws and precedents indicate that "individual" fair use copying for educational purposes in the physical classroom (or digital classroom) is seen much differently than "mass" copying or perhaps "crowd" e-reserves, which are essentially means of avoiding existing commercial licensing markets and/or permission channels.

Where does one draw the "fair use" line in a legal landscape that allows no "bright line" rules to be drawn? Looking at the Teach Act -- which specifically DOES NOT apply to "electronic reserves, coursepacks (electronic or paper) or interlibrary loan (ILL)" -- it nevertheless provides us with some broad copyright guidelines that can be extrapolated to the Georgia State case.

As written at Stanford University Libraries:

"Georgia Harper, an attorney with the University of Texas's library system has developed an excellent checklist to determine whether you are "ready to use the TEACH Act."

Take a look at the last link and look at the checklist. Harper writes (we have excerpted this material considerably from the original):

"Copyright law provides educators with a separate set of rights in addition to fair use, to display (show) and perform (show or play) others' works in the classroom. These rights are in Section 110(1) of the Copyright Act and apply to any work, regardless of the medium....

[A]n educator may show or perform any work related to the curriculum, regardless of the medium, face-to-face in the classroom - still images, music of every kind, even movies. There are no limits and no permission required. Under 110(2), however, even as revised and expanded, the same educator would have to pare down some of those materials to show them to distant students or make them available over the Internet to face-to-face students. The audiovisual works and dramatic musical works may only be shown as clips -- "reasonable and limited portions," the Act says....

[P]utting anything online requires making a copy of it. The TEACH Act authorizes us to digitize works for use in digital distance education, but only to the extent we are authorized to use those works in Section 110(2), and so long as they are not available digitally in a format free from technological protection....

Fair use ... remains important because the in-classroom activities (even if the classroom is virtual) the TEACH Act ... covers in class performances and displays, not, for example, digital delivery of supplemental reading, viewing, or listening materials. For those activities, as well as many others, we'll need to continue to rely on fair use. Remember, however, when relying on fair use, the fair use test is sensitive to harm to markets. This means that in general, where there is an established market for permissions, there will often be a narrower scope for fair use. In practical terms, this means that where it's easy to get permission, for example, to put text materials on reserve, our reliance on fair use should be limited....

Not everyone, nor every work, is covered. Section 110(2) only applies to accredited nonprofit educational institutions. The rights granted do not extend to the use of works primarily produced or marketed for in-class use in the digital distance education market; works the instructor knows or has reason to believe were not lawfully made or acquired; or textbooks, coursepacks and other materials typically purchased by students individually." [emphasis added by LawPundit]

So now, what about that recent landmark case involving Georgia State? In that case, Cambridge University Press v. Becker, which has been appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, the court wrote:

"Almost all of the 75 excerpts at issue were assigned as supplemental readings in graduate level or upper level undergraduate courses....

The excerpts were selected by 23 professors for 29 courses in three semesters in 2009. On average these excerpts were 10.1% of the pages in the copyrighted books....

Between 2004 and early 2009 Georgia State had a copyright policy ... which described the prohibitions on copying in the Copyright Act and the basic elements of fair use. While the policy did not state what percentage of a copyrighted work could legitimately be copied, some professors who testified at trial believed (and, the Court infers, others did as well) that copying as much as 20% of a copyrighted work was acceptable as fair use....

On February 17, 2009 the Board of Regents introduced a new copyright policy for University System of Georgia schools, including Georgia State....

.... Professors ... were told that there was no across-the-board answer ... but that under fifteen percent would likely be safe and that under ten percent would be "really safe"....

The trial evidence showed that unlicensed copying of excerpts of copyrighted books at colleges and universities is a widespread practice in the United States.... many schools' copyright policies allow more liberal unlicensed copying than does Georgia State's 2009 Copyright Policy....

Plaintiffs allege that Defendants have infringed their copyrights by allowing portions of Plaintiffs' works to be electronically distributed to users of Georgia State's electronic reserves system without obtaining permissions, in violation of the federal Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq....

Defendants contend that all of Plaintiffs' infringement claims are barred by the doctrine of fair use, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 107....

Defendants bear the burden of proving that each use was a fair use under the statute.

The Supreme Court's most recent and most important fair use opinion is Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994)."

We are very philosophically sympathetic to the judge's holding in this case in favor of the defendants, i.e. against the publishers, but doubt on a legal basis that such wide-scale excerpting on a digital basis will be upheld upon appeal, involving as it does materials for which the mechanism for permissions exists. After all, "use" of educational materials OFTEN does not involve use of an entire textbook, but only one or more chapters, or parts of those chapters, i.e. excerpts, so that viewing a book in terms of 10%, 15% or 20% used as "fair use" is not the correct standard. E-reserves serve as a means to get around buying copyrighted books and/or getting permissions and/or licenses and harm the copyright holders accordingly. When you use maybe one PAGE of a book, that might be fair use, but not whole chapters. In such a case, the law should probably require that you have to buy the book or get permission.

Take a look at the case of academic coursepacks which are NOT "free use" in terms of the copyright laws according to cases such as:
Basic Books Inc. v. Kinko’s Graphics Corp., 758 F. Supp. 1522 (S.D.N.Y. 1991)
American Geophysical Union v. Texaco Inc., 60 F.3d 913, 919 (2nd Circ. 1994)
Princeton Univ. v. Michigan Document Servs., 99 F.3d 1381 (6th Circ. 1996).

By the way, the applicable "fair use" statute under American law provides under 17 USC § 107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use as follows:

"Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."

See

Andrew Albanese at Publishers Weekly in Publishers Appeal Ruling in GSU E-Reserves Case

Ten Percent Is Fair Use For Educational Institutions – Copyright Owners Disappointed, ComplexIP.com

The six million dollar fair use standard, Scholarly Communications @ Duke

Georgia State Fair Use Lawsuit Plaintiffs File Appeal, The Digital Reader, Chris Meadows

Judge Denies Publishers’ Request for Relief in Georgia State U. E-Reserves Case, The Ticker at The Chronicle of Higher Education

Copyright Court Decisions, Yi Hong Sim, Music Library Association

Memorandum from Randolph D. Moss, Acting Assistant Attorney General, to Andrew J. Pincus, General Counsel, Department of Commerce, on Whether Government Reproduction of Copyrighted Materials Invariably is a "Fair Use" under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976

Crossposted at LawPundit.

Public Library Services Threatened by Budget Cuts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 May 2012 08:13:00 +0000

At the Huffington Post, Christian Zabriskie in Confronting The Biggest Threat To The Public Library writes inter alia that:

"The biggest threat to the public library in American culture is limited hours. In the new budget reality if libraries are forced to dramatically decrease their hours then they will be drastically reduced in their ability to serve their public."

Read the whole piece here.

Syracuse University Library and the Marcel Breuer Digital Archive: Architecture and Furniture Design 20th Century : Digitization

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:14:00 +0000

Marcel Breuer Digital Archive

"The Marcel Breuer Digital Archive represents a collaborative effort headed by Syracuse University Library to digitize over 30,000 drawings, photographs, letters and other materials related to the career of Marcel Breuer, one of the most influential architects and furniture designers of the twentieth century."

NYPL Periodicals Librarian Raymond Pun Sees Library as a Powerful Symbol of Democracy and Civilization

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:01:00 +0000

At Crain's New York Business, Miriam Kreinin Souccar presents the New York Public Libary (NYPL) periodicals librarian Raymond Pun as someone who sees libraries as powerful symbols of democracy and civilization.

See
Gotham Gigs: Periodicals librarian is the answer man

New York Public Library $300 Million Proposed Anthony Marx Renovation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:55:00 +0000

Read it at the New York Times in

A Library for the Future

Ancient Signs The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing: epubli Publisher Pages Now Available in English Language

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:23:00 +0000

The Berlin publisher -- epubli -- of my recently published book,
Ancient Signs The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing,
now has its pages up in English
for those of you who have been considering
getting a print or ebook copy of Ancient Signs.

The English-language pages are now at epubli.com
while the German-language pages are at epubli.de.

Happy reading viz. happy lending!

Libraries Struggling with Stagnant Budgets and Steady Serials Price Increases in 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:11:00 +0000

The Library Journal has the story by Stephen Bosch and Kittie Henderson at Coping with the Terrible Twins | Periodicals Price Survey 2012

"Stuck between the rock (stagnant budgets) and the hard place (steady serials price increases) ... libraries are nearing the end of their ability to leverage shrinking buying power."

Read the entire posting.

Crossposted at LawPundit.

A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith by Darrel E. Berg, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:18:00 +0000

I am currently reading the Reverend Darrel E. Berg, A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1965.

In the chapter "Not for Sale", Darrel E. Berg refers to Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer as a role model for his ministry as man morally "not for sale", who turned his back on riches to be a medical missionary in Africa:
"A man who 'has it made' ministers to those who have no claim on him."
-- Darrel E. Berg, A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith

What does it mean to be "not for sale" morally? Darrel addresses not only his own congregation, but the congregations of all churches:

"[W]e need to remember that the greatest testing may come to us after we have gotten what we wanted....Then it is that the King of Sodom comes making his approach, appealing to our selfishness, "Keep the spoil for yourself, keep your money for yourself, keep your prestige for yourself; don't risk it for those who don't deserve it. Keep your schools to yourselves, and your churches, your clubs and your neighborhoods." That is the way the King of Sodom talks, and if we listen to him we sometimes sell all that we are to him.

The great battles are not the military, political or business battles, but the moral battles. Abraham won a surprising victory over the forces of the ancient King Chedorloamer, but it was not more important than his victory over the King of Sodom on the way home. In the conquest, he showed that all that he stood for was unique and sacred and not for sale.

It was important for us to win over the Nazi, but it would be a shame for us to have won that struggle and then fail to win the moral struggle with racial injustice, crime and corruption in which we are now involved. It is important for us to win the battle to make a living, but it is even more important for us to win the battle to be what we are called to be. It was important for Samson to defeat the Philistines, but it was a shame that on the way home he had to fall prey to Delilah. It is important for us to win the argument with the Communists, but it would be sad if we lost our souls to Sodom before we could carry home the trophy."

Indeed, the Nazis and the Communists have by and large been defeated, but are "we in America" losing the trophy on our way home? by filling our coffers more and more at the expense of our neighbors? by opposing health care for all? by keeping our spoils of the battle to make a living only for ourselves?

Crossposted from LawPundit.

Fiction Pulitzer 2012 NOT Awarded! German Library Users Would Put in a Vote for Nele Neuhaus as an Alternative Prize Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:22:00 +0000

[crossposted from BookPundit]

NOooo Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2012?
No problem.

How about an alternative reward for Nele Neuhaus, Germany's best-selling crime novelist?

As written at Agence Hoffman:

"Nele Neuhaus is the most successful German crime writer. She took the bestseller lists by storm with SCHNEEWITTCHEN MUSS STERBEN/Snow White must die and WER WIND SÄT.*

Nele Neuhaus' gripping novels are set in the Taunus mountains, where the author lives. www.neleneuhaus.de"

* We add here our footnote translation of "Wer Wind Sät" as "If You Sow Wind", based on the German phrase that whoever sows wind, will reap a whirlwind.

So we herewith award The BookPundit Fiction Prize for 2012 to Nele Neuahus, who writes "Taunus, Germany-based" complex crime novels in German dealing with modern topics such as wind energy and environmental politics, for example, which she then weaves into the magically interlaced substance of her marvelous criminal mystery novels. The results are outstanding.

This award, by the way, is not connected with any other benefit other than this simple recognition of her excellent book writing.

We initially became aware of the works of Nele Neuhaus after asking at the local library what novels were currently being borrowed the most and was told "the crime series of books of Nele Neuhaus". Well, so we loaned out a book.

Her books are a series of crime squad investigations led by Inspector Oliver von Bodenstein and his colleague Pia Kirchhoff. The books are well researched and the author works together with real crime investigation professionals to get the crime details right. A truly great, almost natural gift for writing adds the rest.

Our own bookseller regards Tiefe Wunde ("Deep Wounds") as the best book by Nele Neuhaus thus far and it is the third book in the series. Google Translator translates the short description of Tiefe Wunde at Amazon.de as follows:

"The 92-year-old Holocaust survivor David Joshua Goldberg is killed at his home in the Taunus with a neck shot. At autopsy, the doctor makes a strange discovery: Goldberg's arm bears the remains of a blood group tattoo, as it was customary for members of the SS. Then ... two more murders [occur], executions. What mystery linked the victims to each other? The investigations lead ... Chief Inspector Oliver Bodenstein and his colleague Pia Kirchhoff far into the past ...[to] East Prussia in January 1945 ...
Nearly 200 enthusiastic readers ... on 22 August 2009, [experienced] the book launch of 'Deep Wounds' at the Kempinski Hotel in Königstein [in the Taunus]."

Well, if you read German, you are lucky, because you can enjoy the Neuhaus crime novels. We assume the publisher will bring English-language versions soon, but we can not guarantee it.

Maybe the best thing they could do this year was not to award the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. They would have missed Neuhaus anyway.

The Library Igloo?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:57:00 +0000

The Library Igloo?

See
Miler Lagos
and this photograph

Just Finished Reading Dewey : The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:18:00 +0000

Just finished reading

Dewey

The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Is the world really all about cats? To cat owners, yes.

Ancient Signs : The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:54:00 +0000

Ancient Signs: The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing
by Andis Kaulins is now available in 4 versions
(b/w, color, and both of those also as ebooks)
at
http://www.epubli.com/shop/autor/Andis-Kaulins/3682.

In Ancient Signs, the author traces the origins of writing and the alphabet to syllabic writing systems in ancient cultures and shows that these have one common origin.

print b/w version black and white inside
B/W inside
200 pages, 90 gram paper
Price: €35.99 (about US $47 on day of posting)
for the B/W print version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet to syllabic writing.
Softcover - print b/w, cover in color

eBook b/w version black and white version
B/W inside
200 pages
Price: €27.99 (about US $37 on day of posting)
for the B/W eBook version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet to syllabic writing.

color print version color inside
COLOR inside
200 pages, 150 gram glossy paper
Price: €149.00 (about US $196 on day of posting)
for the color print version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet to syllabic writing.
Hardcover - print and cover in color

color eBook version color inside
COLOR inside
200 pages
Price: €39.99 (about US $52 on day of posting)
for the color inside eBook version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet to syllabic writing.

Enjoy Reading.

eBook News: Digital Galleys Used by Librarians

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:44:00 +0000

Dianna Dilworth at eBookNewser writes that 59% Of Librarians Use Digital Galleys To Find Titles.

Law and the Library of Alexandria: Getting a Grip on Gigantic Databases

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:39:00 +0000

Nice library reference here to Alexandria in the course of discussing the gigantic database of law.

See the product review of Practice Advisor by Attorney at Work at Less Is More Focused: Lexis Practice Advisor - Attorney at Work where Jared Correia writes inter alia in an introduction we liked because of its mention of ancient library history:

"The thing about gigantic databases, like the great library at Alexandria, is that it can be hard to find exactly what you’re looking for, unless you really know what you’re doing. LexisNexis’s research engine is a modern-day labyrinthine library. But with a new product release, Lexis endeavors to make things easier to find, by providing “on-point” access for transactional attorneys.

In advance of the LegalTech New York show for 2012, Lexis has released its new Practice Advisor product. Practice Advisor is Lexis’s answer to the overwhelming girth of its content search engine."

Read the whole thing here.

Law Library Technology and the Librarian in the Holiday Season

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:07:00 +0000

Anne Ellis reports at the ABA Journal

in

What Technology Is Your Law Librarian Thinking About This Season?.

Library Closings in London Lead to Demonstrations and Raise Questions About Society Priorities: Sports vs. Libraries?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:13:00 +0000

You can tell a lot about a society by its choices about where to "save money", especially in the current economic situation, where government cuts are seen as necessary by many governments, also in the United Kingdom.

A High Court decision affirming the right of the Brent Council -- Brent is where Wembley is located in London -- to make library closures in Kensal Rise, Barham Park, Preston Road, Neasden, Cricklewood and Tokyngton has led to a wave of protests and demonstrations -- as reported by Benedict Moore-Bridge and Miranda Bryant in Families form human shields to stop libraries being shut down.

See also the Brent Council page and the DailyMail.

The legal argument raised against the library closures was that they discriminate against minorities, the disabled and the elderly, who have difficulty getting to more distantly located city libraries, such as the one at Wembley, which is to be turned into a "mega-library", in part with the savings made by smaller library closures.

The High Court found to the contrary, however, that the Brent Council had the right to close libraries if it so decided and that its decision did not contradict the Equality Act 2010.

Public Libraries News discusses all of the possible challenges in the UK to library closings, including provisions of the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act which requires authorities to run a "comprehensive and efficient" public library service.

Presumably, one reason the libraries in Brent are coming under the axe is because of the Wembley Regeneration that includes the recently constructed 90,000 capacity Wembley National Stadium, which will host the upcoming 2012 Olympic football matches and the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final.

Life is a matter of priorities.

We are great sports fans ourselves, but city councils should not construct, maintain and/or modernize athletic facilities at the cost of libraries. That sends the wrong message to the people of any country, especially the youth.

The American Legal Scene: The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Constitutional Law, Contracts, Torts and Property: Forthcoming: Intellectual Property and Income Tax Law

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:14:00 +0000

The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law is a series of books on specific fields of law. They are currently available in paperback in four subject areas: Constitutional Law, Contracts, Torts and Property. Our review of this series is based on the information value of these volumes and let us say this -- this is a lot of knowledge at a bargain price.

Each volume is written by one or more legal experts in the respective legal field: Constitutional Law by Michael C. Dorf with Trevor W. Morrison, Contracts by Randy E. Barnett, Torts by John C.P. Goldberg and Benjamin C. Zipursky and Property by Thomas W. Merrill and Henry E. Smith.

Scheduled for publication in December 2011 are two additional volumes under editor Dennis Patterson: Intellectual Property by Daniel Hunter and Income Tax Law by Edward McCaffery.

For those interested, Oxford Law at Oxford University Press also maintains a Law Librarian Newsletter and E-Alerts on these and selected other areas of legal interest which can be subscribed to here. Currently available E-Alerts are: 1) Arbitration & Litigation, 2) Banking, Insurance, and Securities, 3) Commercial, 4) Communications & Internet, 5) Competition, 6) Constitution Law, 7) Corporate Finance, 8) Customs, 9) Environmental, 10) Ethics, 11) European Union, 12) Human Rights, 13) Intellectual Property, 14) International Criminal Law, 15) International Trade, 16) Legal Reference, 17) Maritime/Shipping, and 18) Public International Law.

We have obtained complimentary review copies of the four available books in the series, each of which can be viewed as a primer in the respective legal field and each of which is thus intended for students, but is in fact also suitable for reading by just about anyone who wants to get a good grasp of the legal fundamentals in a chosen area of American law.

The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Constitutional Law, by Michael C. Dorf and Trevor W. Morrison in paperback covers 268 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches (close to DIN A5 in size), Index, ISBN13: 9780195370034, ISBN10: 0195370031, and is priced very affordably at $19.95 a copy.
The Authors in this case (in the editorial version by the publisher of the Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law) are:

"Michael C. Dorf is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell University Law School....
Trevor W. Morrison is Professor of Law at Columbia Law School....
Dorf is more the Constitutional Law theoretician and Morrison more the legal pragmatist, and that is how they have have divided up the chapters. Although the two authors use what is described as "the plural authorial voice", i.e. "we", Dorf is considered the principal author, having penned chapters 1-4 (Who Decides?, Judicial Review, Constitutional Interpretation, Federalism) and 6-8 (Equal Protection, Enumerated Rights: The First Amendment, Unenumerated Rights), while Morrison penned chapter 5 (Separation of Powers) and chapters 9-10 (Congressional Enforcement of Constitutional Rights, Beyond the Courts).

The editorial abstract to this volume reads:

"The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Constitutional Law presents an accessible introduction to the enduring topics of American constitutional law, including judicial review, methods of interpretation, federalism, separation of powers, equal protection, and individual liberties....

This introduction to American constitutional law critically examines the work of the Supreme Court of the United States, which has resolved thousands of constitutional controversies based on the shortest national constitution on the planet. The authors also look beyond the Supreme Court, exploring the arguments for and against judicial review and various versions of popular constitutionalism."
The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Contracts, by Randy E. Barnett in paperback covers 284 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches (close to DIN A5 in size), Index, ISBN13: 9780199740185, ISBN10: 0199740186, and is priced very affordably at $19.95 a copy:
"Randy E. Barnett is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at Georgetown University Law Center."
Randy Barnett presents us with the "big picture" of contracts, synthesizing key doctrines and cases and presenting a clear and concise view of the evolution and rationale of contacts law.

Individual consent is at the basis of civilization and democracy in our modern world and in the book "consent" is the basic philosophical rationale that serves as the governing principle for modern contract law.

Barnett has an author's posting on this book at The Volokh Conspiracy.

The editorial abstract to this volume reads:

"The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Contracts provides students with ready access to the basic doctrines of contract law, the story behind their evolution, and the rationales for their continued existence. An engaging book that allows students to grasp the “big picture” of contract law, it is organized around the principle that lies at the heart of contracts: consent. Beginning with the premise of “consent,” the book provides a cohesive framework in which to understand the various aspects of contract law."
The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Torts, by John C.P. Goldberg and Benjamin C. Zipursky in paperback covers 436 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches (close to DIN A5 in size), Index, ISBN13: 9780195373974, ISBN10: 0195373979, and is priced very affordably at $19.95 a copy.

Torts is a word taking its origin from a meaning of "injury" and applies to a "wrong" inflicted on a person by another via breach of a civil -- rather than a contractual -- duty. For example, if someone is injured in an auto accident due to negligence, that is a tort. Libel and defamation are torts. Copyright infringement is a tort. It is different than a criminal violation against the State, which is a breach of a specific duty to society in general.

The editorial abstract to this volume reads:

"The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Torts provides a clear and comprehensive account of what tort law is, how it works, what it stands to accomplish, and why it is now much-disputed. Goldberg and Zipursky--two of the world's most prominent tort scholars--carefully analyze leading judicial decisions and prominent tort-related legislation, and place each event into its proper context. Topics covered include products liability, negligence, medical malpractice, intentional torts, defamation and privacy torts, punitive damages, and tort reform."
Torts and tort reform are a controversial field in modern law. In their handling of "Damages and Apportionment", for example, Goldberg and Zipursky devote quite a number of pages to a discussion of punitive damages in torts, writing at the outset that:

"Punitive damages -- also known as "exemplary" or "vindictive" damages -- are at the center of contemporary battles over tort law and tort reform."
Goldberg and Zipursky give a fair and balanced presentation of this controversial topic about which the LawPundit has blogged extensively. See Punitive Damages: A Completey Failed Tort Doctrine Without Sensible Foundation in Legal Theory or Deterrent Fact.

Just as an aside, it is interesting that law books can now also be touted via Twitter and this is one example -- see @law_book.
The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Property, by Thomas W. Merrill and Henry E. Smith in paperback covers 284 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches (close to DIN A5 in size), Index, ISBN13: 9780195314762, ISBN10: 019531476X, and is priced very affordably at $19.95 a copy.

The editorial abstract to this volume reads:

"The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Property provides both a bird's eye overview of property law and an introduction to how property law affects larger concerns with individual autonomy, personhood, and economic organization. Written by two authorities on property law, this book gives students of property a coherent account of how property law works, with an emphasis on describing the central issues and policy debates. It is designed for law students who want a short and theoretically integrated treatment of the subject, as well as for lawyers who are interested in the conceptual foundations of the law of property."
Merrill and Smith discuss for example the question of what "property" actually means in the real world, viewing "Owners as Gatekeepers":
"Once an owner has acquired property, either by original acquisition or by transfer from a previous owners, the question becomes what exactly does such an owner have? ... The owner, as gatekeeper, has broad discretion to decide who has access to the property and and what terms...."

It is much like owning one or more volumes of this series of books on U.S. law. Once you have them, YOU decide what to do with them and their value rests on your decisions. A law student, for example, who has these books at his or her disposal, and reads them, should better understand the legal issues under discussion. My view as a student always was, to better understand what the professors are speaking, read what they are writing.

We can, in any case, heartily recommend these books as useful tools and as great deals offering a lot of knowledge at a bargain price.
__________

crossposted from LawPundit

Authors Guild Sues Five Universities and a Library Partnership Organization for Copyright Infringement via Google Books Library Project

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:08:00 +0000

At Computerworld, Juan Carlos Perez writes that Authors Guild sues universities over Google book scanning.
Really, where would the world be without the Authors Guild? and their greedy publishers?
Think about it.
They are battling -- out of commercial greed -- for the public's right to know -- nothing.
The march of progress is always being held back by people who are totally out of line with the modern world.

Crossposted from LawPundit.

E-Book Readers, Tablet PCs, and the Law: Attorneys, Courts, Legal Research, Law Libraries

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 May 2011 22:58:00 +0000

Print, print, print? Not so much in the not so distant future of law.

John Edwards has a piece investigating tablet PCs and e-book readers for attorneys at LawTechnology News (LTN) in Tablet or E-Book Reader? It Depends.

LexisNexis introduced e-books last year and has a website presence at LexisNexis eBooks.

WestLaw introduced 30 of their titles as e-books in 2009 and David Holt at Law Library Technology informs us on Using WestLaw Next with your e-book reader.

Blackwell's Law Ebooks in the UK, for example, already has e-books devoted to the law as a fixed category.

It will not be surprising down the road, we think, to find Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court or judges of lower courts at oral argument or in other circumstances where quick reference to legal codes, case law, academic commentary or other document information is required, to consult their law, fact and case-filled Tablet PC or E-Book Reader (or a similar electronic research and book and document reading technology).

E-book readers are becoming more widespread and the EBook Readers Review in the UK has a nice comparison table of popular models: Amazon, Sony, BeBook, Barnes and Noble, Bookeen, and more. See the Wikipedia Comparison of e-book readers for a comprehensive table.

Of course, all such e-book readers are subject to the copyright laws.

Ken LaMance, Attorney at Law, LegalMatch Law Library Managing Editor, examines E-Book Readers and Copyright Laws.

Jay Rivera, also at LegalMatch, goes into Digital Storytelling: Copyright Law and E-book Audio Readers.

Peter Hirtle at the LibraryLaw Blog discusses the legality of library lending of e-book readers.

Google Books Search

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:36:00 +0000

Law Librarian Blog: How Does Google Books Search Work

Library of Congress Designates Six Classes of Works as Exempt from DMCA Prohibition of Circumvention of Technology and e.g. Permits Users to Bypass iPhone, iPod or iPad Controls to Run Lawfully Obtained Software

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:48:00 +0000

Debra Cassens Weiss at the ABA Journal Law News Now in Library of Congress Allows iPhone ‘Jailbreaking,’ Turns Aside Apple’s IP Objection writes in citing to a WSJ article via Neil Hughes' article at AppleInsider re the article of Joelle Tessler of the AP at Yahoo News that the Library of Congress has exercised its power to carve exemptions to the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and has inter alia issued a final rule that:

"[G]ives iPhone [and iPod and iPad] users the freedom to bypass controls on the devices without fear of running afoul of copyright law.... “jailbreaking” is permissible to run lawfully obtained software...."

Jenna Wortham at New York Times Technology has a link to the relevant Library of Congress statement, which carves out additional exemptions (six in total which we have highlighted below):

Statement of the Librarian of Congress Relating to Section 1201 Rulemaking

Section 1201(a)(1) of the copyright law requires that every three years I am to determine whether there are any classes of works that will be subject to exemptions from the statute’s prohibition against circumvention of technology that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work. I make that determination at the conclusion of a rulemaking proceeding conducted by the Register of Copyrights, who makes a recommendation to me. Based on that proceeding and the Register’s recommendation, I am to determine whether the prohibition on circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works is causing or is likely to cause adverse effects on the ability of users of any particular classes of copyrighted works to make noninfringing uses of those works. The classes of works that I designated in the previous proceeding expire at the end of the current proceeding unless proponents of a class prove their case once again.

This is the fourth time that I have made such a determination. Today I have designated six classes of works. Persons who circumvent access controls in order to engage in noninfringing uses of works in these six classes will not be subject to the statutory prohibition against circumvention. [emphasis added by LawPundit]

As I have noted at the conclusion of past proceedings, it is important to understand the purposes of this rulemaking, as stated in the law, and the role I have in it. This is not a broad evaluation of the successes or failures of the DMCA. The purpose of the proceeding is to determine whether current technologies that control access to copyrighted works are diminishing the ability of individuals to use works in lawful, noninfringing ways. The DMCA does not forbid the act of circumventing copy controls, and therefore this rulemaking proceeding is not about technologies that control copying. Nor is this rulemaking about the ability to make or distribute products or services used for purposes of circumventing access controls, which are governed by a different part of section 1201.

In this rulemaking, the Register of Copyrights received 19 initial submissions proposing 25 classes of works, many of them duplicative in subject matter, which the Register organized into 11 groups and published in a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comments on the proposed classes. Fifty-six comments were submitted. Thirty-seven witnesses appeared during the four days of public hearings in Washington and in Palo Alto, California. Transcripts of the hearings, copies of all of the comments, and copies of other information received by the Register have been posted on the Copyright Office's website.

The six classes of works are:

(1) Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and acquired and that are protected by the Content Scrambling System when circumvention is accomplished solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into new works for the purpose of criticism or comment, and where the person engaging in circumvention believes and has reasonable grounds for believing that circumvention is necessary to fulfill the purpose of the use in the following instances:
(i) Educational uses by college and university professors and by college and university film and media studies students;

(ii) Documentary filmmaking;
(iii) Noncommercial videos
(2) Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.
(3) Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer program solely in order to connect to a wireless telecommunications network and access to the network is authorized by the operator of the network.
(4) Video games accessible on personal computers and protected by technological protection measures that control access to lawfully obtained works, when circumvention is accomplished solely for the purpose of good faith testing for, investigating, or correcting security flaws or vulnerabilities, if:
(i) The information derived from the security testing is used primarily to promote the security of the owner or operator of a computer, computer system, or computer network; and
(ii) The information derived from the security testing is used or maintained in a manner that does not facilitate copyright infringement or a violation of applicable law.
(5) Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete. A dongle shall be considered obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a replacement or repair is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace; and
(6) Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format. [emphasis added by LawPundit]

All of these classes of works find their origins in classes that I designated at the conclusion of the previous rulemaking proceeding, but some of the classes have changed due to differences in the facts and arguments presented in the current proceeding. For example, in the previous proceeding I designated a class that enable film and media studies professors to engage in the noninfringing activity of making compilations of film clips for classroom instruction. In the current proceeding, the record supported an expansion of that class to enable the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into documentary films and noncommercial videos for the purpose of criticism or comment, when the person engaging in circumvention reasonably believes that it is necessary to fulfill that purpose. I agree with the Register that the record demonstrates that it is sometimes necessary to circumvent access controls on DVDs in order to make these kinds of fair uses of short portions of motion pictures.

U.S. Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20559-6000
(202) 707-3000
Revised: 23-Jul-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:44:00 +0000