Workshop Descriptions - Intellectual Property in Academia Series 2007-2008 - Center for Intellectual Property - UMUC
University of Maryland University College
Center for Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property in Academia 2007-2008

Workshop Descriptions




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Copyright and Academic Culture: New Issues and Developments

Dates: October 1-12, 2007 (early registration by September 21 )
Moderator: Siva Vaidhyanathan, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Media Studies and Law, University of Virginia

Would you like to step behind the legal battles and economic interests in order to think more about the cultural values that influence how we think and talk about copyright? In a clear, straightforward, engaging style, cultural historian and media scholar Siva Vaidhyanathan will offer insight to help untangle some of the intricate web of culture, law, and technology. This workshop is an opportunity for both the theorist and the practitioner of copyright law and policy to explore some of the complex issues behind the management of copyrights on campus.

Goals for the course:

  • Review the purpose, role, and scope of copyright and its relation to academic culture;
  • Consider some of the problems, challenges, changes, and opportunities facing academia;
  • Examine the relationship of the academy to copyright via the Google Library and consider important questions for both libraries and Google;
  • Explore the current controversy surrounding e-reserves as an example of copyright and academic culture in conflict;
  • Examine the evolving relationship between the publishing industry and libraries.
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DMCA, P2P Filesharing and Campus Responses

Dates: November 5-16, 2007 (early registration by October 26 )
Moderator: Arnold Lutzker, J.D., Senior Partner, Lutzker & Lutzker LLP

***This is an updated version of a workshop originally offered in Autumn 2005***

This workshop will consider new legal and policy developments related to peer-to-peer file sharing , user-generated content, and Congressional evaluations of the response of the higher education community to copyright infringing activities.

Goals for the course:

  • Develop a common vocabulary of copyright terms and explore concepts relating the common carriers, service providers and educational institutions, including the rights, limitations, liabilities of the copyright system;
  • Gain insight to the larger context of the DMCA, including the the interests of the library and educational communities in the DMCA debate and the history and compromise behind the legislative resolutions;
  • Discuss the Online Service Provider Limitation on Liability (Section 512 of the Copyright Act) and explore some of the dilemmas posed when educators try to respect the freedoms so essential to academia;
  • Examine where the law has gone in the years since the DMCA's inception, including battles over access to subscriber information, responsibility of institutions to take down web pages that are responsible for copyright infringements, and consider the impact of peer-to-peer software on the copyright DMCA system, and whether the law is a “safe harbor” for educators or a turbulent sea;
  • Explore and critique model policies and practices for institutions and staff, and delve into legislative developments and efforts of policy makers to fix problems in the system.
  • Develop a shared appreciation for legal, technical, even social systems that impact the copyright process, with the goal of becoming more effective participants in the process;
  • Examine Congressional responses to P2P filesharing to determine if colleges are carrying greater burdens as ISPs.
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Integrating Access to Digital Course Materials:

Blackboard/WebCT, Coursepacks, e-Reserves, Licensed Materials, e-Books, Open Access...What Will They Think of Next?

*** This Workshop is Now CLOSED Due to High Demand ***

Dates: January 28 - February 8, 2008 (early registration by January 11)
Moderator: Georgia Harper, J.D., Scholarly Communications Advisor, University Libraries, University of Texas at Austin

This workshop will explore how integrating the various methods our campuses use to provide access to digital educational course materials can achieve long-term efficiencies and facilitate institutional compliance with copyright law.

We’ll start with a high-level discussion of fair use and review the role it plays in enabling access to certain types of materials. Next, we’ll turn to our other forms of legal authority to use others’ works, and learn how we might integrate access to our libraries’ existing collections of licensed materials, including e-books and journal articles, with those materials freely available on the Web, and those for which permission must be obtained. We’ll also examine the many delivery mechanisms in use today to determine which features will most affect faculty acceptance and use of any integrated system.

Most importantly, these explorations will underscore the fact that creating and operating access systems for digital materials, and the copyright issues involved, are institutional concerns and not just a matter of library services.

Goals for the course:

When you have completed the course, you will be able to:

  • Identify and understand the limits of each of the legal authorizations available to faculty to use others’ materials
    • Licensed materials
    • Materials available freely on the web (creative commons and implied licenses)
    • Orphan works
    • The role of fair use, the limits on that role, and the importance of knowing your institution’s risk tolerance in order to decide how to apply the fair use test for small, medium and large-scale course materials access operations
    • TEACH Act
    • The role of Copyright Clearance Center’s transactional licensing and campus-wide subscription permissioning
  • Identify the features of an integrated digital materials access system that promote its acceptance and use among faculty and graduate students
  • Identify the institutional units on your campus that would need to be involved in creating an integrated system for providing digital access to course materials
  • Participate in discussions on your campus of the need for and methods for achieving an integrated system for access to digital course materials.
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Building a Community that Values Academic Integrity

Dates: February 25 - March 7, 2008 (early registration by February 8 )
Moderators: Gary Pavela, M.A., J.D., Director of Judicial Programs and Student Ethical Development, University of Maryland -- College Park & Kimberly Bonner, J.D., Executive Director, Center for Intellectual Property, University of Maryland University College

Studies show that establishing a community of shared academic values fosters academic integrity in the classroom. However, establishing that community may be more difficult when students adopt the values of a digital "remix" culture that challenges the traditional understanding of authorship. How do institutions foster academic integrity values in light of changing cultural norms? Are there special techniques and tools required? Are the best tools to use in preventing academic dishonesty "technical" like Turnitin.com? And are there additional legal and ethical issues involved when using technical measures to prevent academic dishonesty?

Goals for the course:

  • Examine faculty and student attitudes about academic integrity
  • Examine several strategies to foster academic integrity and discourage dishonesty in teaching and learning
  • Evaluate the importance of building trust in academic environments and identify key factors in achieving and sustaining trust online and face-to-face
  • Review some of the currently available online tools helpful in discouraging academic dishonesty
  • Evaluate the legal issues involved in using those tools to foster academic integrity
  • Consider the educational tools that can be used to remediate students after academic dishonesty occurs
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Register Now

Participants will receive daily response and feedback from workshop moderators.
In addition, each workshop will include live chats with the
workshop moderators and invited guests.