Intellectual Property Virtual Scholar Program

As part of the University of Maryland University College's commitment to national leadership in distance education, the Center for Intellectual Property and Copyright in the Digital Environment (CIP) has established a Virtual Scholar-In-Residence Program. As part of our academic community, the Intellectual Property Scholar has the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues, conduct research, and teach. Our faculty, as well as the general community, benefit from new perspectives on intellectual property that the Scholar can provide through teaching, research, and outreach.

The scholars are selected because of their outstanding contribution to the world of copyright and intellectual property as well as their background in information technology, copyright law, policy and administration, scholarly electronic communication, and many other topics.

About the IP Scholar Program

Kenneth D. Crews

Intellectual Property Scholar, 2002-2003

Brief Background
Professional Memberships
Honors and Awards
Recent Professional Service
Publications

"My philosophy about copyright is the
same as about a hobby: If I cannot
reveal that it is intriguing, fun,
relevant, and filled with surprises,
I am not doing my job."
-Kenneth D. Crews

Brief Background

Kenneth Crews is a Professor in the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and in the IU School of Library and Information Science. He is also Associate Dean of the Faculties for Copyright Management, and in that capacity he directs the Copyright Management Center based at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Professor Crews brings a variety of academic and professional experiences to his duties. He earned his undergraduate degree in history from Northwestern University and received his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He practiced general business and corporate law in Los Angeles from 1980 to 1990, primarily for the entertainment industry. During those years, Crews returned to graduate school and he earned his M.L.S.and Ph.D. degrees from UCLA's School of Library and Information Science.

His principal research interest has been the relationship of copyright law to the needs of higher education. His first copyright book, Copyright, Fair Use, and the Challenge for Universities: Promoting the Progress of Higher Education, was published by The University of Chicago Press in October 1993, and it reevaluates understandings of copyright in the context of teaching and research at the university. A more recent book, Copyright Essentials for Librarians and Educators, published by the American Library Association in late 2000, is an instructive overview of copyright law. Crews has been an invited speaker on college and university campuses and at conferences in 37 states, D.C., and 5 foreign countries.

Crews brings a wide range of experience to the task. He has been a faculty member in three disciplines: law, business, and library and information science. His publications encompass the fields of copyright, constitutional law, political history, and library science. He has worked in a university archives and conducted historical research on windmills and tide mills on Long Island, NY for the National Park Service. In rare moments of recreation Crews enjoys bicycling, hiking, astronomy, archeology, art, and early rock and roll. He has a splendid and supportive wife (who looks back fondly on six years in UCLA family housing pressed against the San Diego Freeway) and two perfect children (who contemplate putting copyright notices on their school projects).

Professional Memberships

American Bar Association, 1977 - present.
Association of American Law Schools, 1994 - present.
American Library Association, 1984 - present.
American Association of Law Libraries, 1995 - present.
Academy of Legal Studies in Business, 1990 - 2000.
American Society for Legal History, 1986 - present

Honors and Awards

"Teaching Excellence Recognition Award (TERA)," Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 1998.
"Dissertation of the Year," Association for the Study of Higher Education, 1990.
"Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship," Association of College and Research Libraries, 1989.
"Distinguished Scholar Award," UCLA Alumni Association, 1986.
Beta Phi Mu, Library and Information Science Honor Society.

Recent Professional Service

Bar Activities

Member, ABA, Section of Business Law, Committee on the Law of Commerce in Cyberspace.
Member, ABA, Section of Business Law, Copyright Committee.

Voluntary Pro Bono Publico

I have worked closely with several national and local organizations as they develop positions on or responses to copyright developments. Among the organizations to which I have provided services are:

Association of American Universities
National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
American Council on Education, the Association of Research Libraries
American Library Association
Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education
Committee on Institutional Cooperation.

Examples of significant projects:

Service on a task force that advises the Association of American Universities and NASULGC regarding positions on major federal legislation. In that capacity I gave testimony on February 12, 1999 before the U.S. Copyright Office on the matter of possible revision of the law affecting the use of copyrighted materials in distance learning. For the text of the AAU proposal, see http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/disted/comments/INIT031.PDF.
Advisor to a consortium of national library organizations, including the American Association of Law Libraries, to prepare and filed an amicus brief with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Texaco Inc. v. American Geophysical Union, 60 F.3d 913 (2d Cir. 1994), cert. dismissed, 516 U.S. 1005 (1995).
Moderator for the U.S. Copyright Office of a meeting, held in Washington, D.C., on February 15, 1996 to convene stakeholders from industry, government, museums, and education on the subject of fair use and the digitization of visual images. I provided a framework for discussion and led the group through a legal analysis of these needs.
Organized two major copyright and intellectual property conferences on behalf of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (the CIC was founded in 1958 and its membership includes Big Ten institutions plus the U. of Chicago and the U. of Illinois at Chicago). The first of those conferences was held at the U. of Iowa in May 1996; the second was held at the U. of Illinois in September 1999.
Consultant to a wide range of nonprofit organizations in the community, including schools, churches, the Indianapolis Children's Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and Conner Prairie.

Publications

Books
Copyright Essentials for Librarians and Educators. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 2000.
Copyright Law and Graduate Research: New Media, New Rights, and Your New Dissertation. Ann Arbor, MI: Bell & Howell Information and Learning, 2000.
"Copyright Protection and Technological Reform of Library Services: Digital Change, Practical Applications, and Congressional Action." In Libraries, Museums, and Archives: Legal Issues and Challenges in the New Information Era, pp. 257-273. Edited by Tomas A. Lipinski. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2002 [co-authored with Dwayne K. Buttler].

"Licensing for Information Resources: Creative Contracts and the Library Mission." In Virtually Yours: Models for Managing Electronic Resources and Services, pp. 98-110. Edited by Peggy Johnson and Bonnie MacEwan. Chicago: American Library Association, 1999.

"Looking Ahead and Shaping the Future: Provoking Change in Copyright Law." Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA 49 (Winter 2001): 549-584.

"The Law of Fair Use and the Illusion of Fair-Use Guidelines." Ohio State Law Journal 62 (2001): 599-702 [available at http://www.osu.edu/units/law/LawJournal/crews.htm].

"Distance Education and Copyright Law: The Limits and Meaning of Copyright Policy." Journal of College and University Law 27 (Summer 2000): 15-51.

"Perspectives on Fair-Use Guidelines for Education and Libraries." Edited by Kenneth D. Crews and Dwayne K. Buttler. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 50 (December 1999): 1303-1357. A series of nine articles, including the following contributions by Kenneth D. Crews:

"Introduction and Overview," pp. 1304-1307.
"Electronic Reserves and Fair Use: The Outer Limits of CONFU," pp. 1342-1345.
"The Immunity Dilemma: Are State Colleges and Universities Still Liable for Copyright Infringements?" pp. 1350-1352 [co-authored with Georgia K. Harper, University of Texas].

"Fair Use of Unpublished Works: Burdens of Proof and the Integrity of Copyright." Arizona State Law Journal 31 (Spring 1999): 1-93.

"The Copyright Management Center at IUPUI: Brief History, Dynamic Changes, and Future Demands." Indiana Libraries: Journal of the Indiana Library Federation & the Indiana State Library 19 (1 November 2000): 13-15.

"Do Your Manuscripts Have a Y2K+3 Problem?" Library Journal 125 (15 June 2000): 38-40.

"The U.S. Copyright Distance Education Report." Information Outlook 3 (October 1999): 44, 46.

"U.S. Copyright Office Issues Report and Recommendations for Distance Education." Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education News, Fall 1999,
pp. 3, 7.