"‎The essence of copyright is the age old principle ‘thou shalt not steal’."

"Copyright law strikes a balance between private rights and public interests. Not everyone likes the balance the law sets. Copyright owners complain that it does not adequately protect them from infringement of their works. Critics contend that copyright law tilts too far in favor of the interests of copyright owners and does not safeguard the rights of consumers. Yet because copyright law is public law—enacted by Congress, enforced where appropriate by the President, and interpreted and applied by the courts—there is plenty of opportunity to monitor the effects of the law and to debate the ways in which it should be reformed. Increasingly, however, copyright law is being privatized. Its meaning and application are determined not by governmental actors but by private parties, and in particular by deep-pocketed copyright owners. Increasingly, the balance between private rights and public interests is set by private lawmaking. My new book, Copyfraud and Other Abuses of Intellectual Property Law, shows how copyright owners, unhappy with the scope of protections that Congress has given them, routinely grab more rights than they are entitled to under the law. They do this at the expense of consumers and of the public at large."

Call for Papers

Call for papers: NLIU Journal of Intellectual Property Law; Submit by 15^th February 2012

NLIU Journal of Intellectual Property Law is issuing a call for papers for its first issue which is due to be published in the current academic year. Intellectual property is one of the fastest evolving areas of law in India and in order to further academic discourse and discussions in the same, we invite submissions on contemporary issues of intellectual property laws. This journal is a student run, faculty regulated, peer reviewed law journal published annually by the Cell for Studies in Intellectual Property Rights (CSIPR).

Guidelines for the submission:

·         The manuscript must be accompanied with an abstract of 200-250 words.

·         A covering letter must be attached along with the submission containing the name, the contact details, name and address of the Institution and academic qualifications.

·         Citations must be by way of footnoting in consonance with the “The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation” (19th ed.).

Eligibility criteria:

·         All students, academicians and legal professionals are invited to send their contributions for the journal.

·         Co-authorship is permissible upto 2 authors per submission.

Last date for submissions: 15^th February 2012.

Further details:

For more information contact Divya Sharma (Convenor, CSIPR, NLIU Bhopal) at (+91)9009445313 or Upasana Kawat (Co-Convenor, CSIPR, NLIU Bhopal) at (+91)9009229892. Alternatively, all queries and clarifications can also be emailed to us at nliu.journalofiplaw@gmail.com.

BAPLA: British Association of Picture Libraries

modlibrarian:

The British Association of Picture Libraries has a lot of useful information on their website. From explaining copyright infringement to a comprehensive image supplier list or category search, BAPLA offers adjunct tools to help image researchers locate material.

The BAPLA site also features up to the minute industry news and a useful toolkit for photographers containing legal templates and information on specific topics of interest like photographing buildings and property releases.