Research Initiatives and Publications

The Center for Intellectual Property Handbook. Edited by Kimberly Bonner and the staff of the Center for Intellectual Property. $85.00, 1-55570-561-8 . 2006 . 6 x 9 . 250 pp. Click here to order.

The Center for Intellectual Property Handbook As more and more instructional material is delivered through the Internet, you have the awesome responsibility of informing patrons, faculty and staff about the proper use of digital content on your campus networks. Where do you go for guidance?

This comprehensive manual provides you with an overview of the policy and legal issues that need to be considered—as well as potential solutions—when meeting the various challenges posed by the networked campus. Edited by the staff of the University of Maryland’s renowned Center for Intellectual Property—an organization dedicated to providing educational services in the field of copyright and higher education—the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of the resource is guaranteed.

Nine subject-specific chapters cover topics including:

Basic concepts of copyright law in the digital environment
Allocating copyright ownership and avoiding ambiguity
The impact of the TEACH Act
Electronic resources
Fair use and licensing
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Copyright Education
Digital Rights Management systems and their affect on institutions of higher education
And more...

Each of the subject specific chapters represents a distinct and complete work on that particular topic. Timely, authoritative and exhaustive, this work is ideal as a reference tool for practitioners or as an introduction to issues for administrators, information professionals, librarians and educators.

Colleges, Code, and Copyright: The Impact of Digital Networks and Technological Controls on Copyright and the Dissemination of Information in Higher Education, Publications in Librarianship no. 57. $28.00, 212p. 0-8389-8322-7, 2005 Click here to order.

Colleges, Code, and Copyright Colleges, Code and Copyright, ACRL Publications in Librarianship no 57 , is the Proceedings of a symposium held by the Center in June 2004. The goal of the symposium was to assemble stakeholders to discuss the technological, legal, and practical issues that influence the dissemination of information on campus and the protection of intellectual property.

The papers in this volume consider thematic tracks on a wide range of topics, including the intersection of copyright and higher education, the state of scholarly publishing, current copyright legislation, peer to peer file sharing, and best practices in digital rights management.

Chapter highlights include:

Keynote Address: Digital Rights Management Systems and Scholarship by Clifford Lynch, Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information
DRM: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by John T. Mitchell, Interaction Law LLC
A Humanist's Perspective on Digital Scholarship and Publishing by Allyson Polsky McCabe, Johns Hopkins University
And much more...

Kelley, K. & Bonner, K. (2005). Digital text, distance education and academic dishonesty: faculty and administrators perceptions and responses. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 9(1).

This study examined administrator and faculty perceptions of the frequency and pervasiveness of student academic dishonesty, including their perceptions of the personal and contextual factors that affect whether a student is likely to engage in any form of academic dishonesty. One important contextual factor examined in this study was the extent to which the respondents thought that using the Internet in a course, delivering a course via distance education, or the availability of digital text through the Internet impacted the prevalence, prevention, and detection of academic dishonesty.

Mellon Grant: Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Higher Education

The Center for Intellectual Property in the Digital Environment (CIP), a unit of the Office of Distance Education and Life Long Learning (ODELL) at University of Maryland University College, is pleased to be the recipient of a Teaching and Technology Program grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to conduct a study of digital rights management systems within the higher education community. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a private foundation which makes grants on a selective basis to institutions in higher education; museums and art conservation; performing arts; population; conservation and the environment; and public affairs. Information about the foundation is available on its Web site (www.mellon.org).

The principal investigators for the research study are Kimberly B. Kelley, PhD, Executive Director of the CIP, and Kimberly M. Bonner, JD, Director of the CIP. "The Center is excited about working with Mellon to gain new insights into how colleges and universities are addressing the issues that arise with digital rights management (DRM) technologies, the distribution of digital works, fair use, and distance education. This grant certainly comes at an important juncture as institutions consider how and whether to comply with the requirements of the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH)Act. This grant arrives at a pivotal time for the CIP and higher education institutions involved in delivering educational materials online," said Kimberly Bonner. "This study is needed because higher education institutions are implementing DRM systems in order to comply with an educational exemption in copyright law and in order to comply with some licenses from publishers."

The generosity of the Mellon Foundation will allow the Center to investigate:

Whether and how institutions are using digital rights management systems to control uses of and access to digital information;
Whether, and to what extent, institutions intend to comply with certain requirements of the TEACH Act that require institutions to apply "technological measures" to prevent retention of copyrighted work and unauthorized dissemination of the work in accessible form;
Emerging trends in the use of digital rights management systems.

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
In existence since 1999, the Center for Intellectual Property at University of Maryland University Center (UMUC) conducts research and educates on issues concerning intellectual property in the digital environment and higher education. The Center meets its mission by providing online workshops, seminars, research studies and up-to-date information about copyright and academic integrity issues that impact higher education. For more information, please visit the Center's Web site (www.umuc.edu/odell/cip).

If you would like any further information, please contact:
Dr. Kimberly B. Kelley or Kimberly M. Bonner (Project Leaders)
University of Maryland University College
3501 University Blvd. East
Adelphi, Maryland 20783 USA
kkelley@umuc.edu or kbonner@umuc.edu

Faculty and Administrator Perceptions of Academic Integrity: A Survey

The Center has distributed a survey on academic integrity policies in distance education. Click to learn more.

Kelley, K., Bonner, K., McMichael, J.S. and Pomea, N. (2002). Intellectual property, ownership and digital course materials: a survey of intellectual property policies at two- and four-year colleges and universities. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 2(2), 255-266.

The Center for Intellectual Property (CIP) at University of Maryland University College (UMUC) conducted a study of the intellectual property policies of 79 two-year and four-year academic institutions to identify their copyright ownership policies for digital course materials (sometimes referred to as "courseware"). The purpose of the study was to determine 1) how copyright ownership rights were distributed between the faculty and their institutions, 2) whether separate or subordinate policies were used to clarify copyright ownership for digital course materials, and 3) whether institutions used contracts and, if so, if they conformed to "best practices" in the field.

Sixty-eight institutional representatives responded for a response rate of 86%. The study results indicate that 1) most institutions have one, overarching policy, 2) contracts are in use at many institutions, 3) policies are typically rather recent but are still considered inadequate by respondents, and 4) separate or subordinate policies are rare although they do provide excellent information on how to address the ownership question successfully.

Copyright Ownership Policies in Distance Education: A Survey

The Center has completed a survey on copyright ownership policies in distance education.

An introduction to the basic principles of copyright law in a question-and-answer format. Helpful to faculty, librarians and anyone needing a concise treatment. Please contact the Center for purchasing information 240-582-2803.