Lisa Jin

Explorer Report: General Overview of Copyright (October 22)

Librarian Kristina Eden from the Copyright Office of Michigan Publishing led the
presentation, and was more than qualified to speak about basic copyright. Most of the
information she covered was shown in lecture already, and included the importance of copyright,
types of intellectual property, and revision to copyright terms. However, other topics like
evaluation of fair use and copyrights effects on education were also expounded upon. It was
thought-provoking to hear about intellectual property from someone with such a unique vantage
point of the publishing industry.
The presentation began almost exactly the same as the class lecture by introducing
copyright, and intellectual property as a whole, with the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, it was
stressed that the original purpose of copyright was to promote the progress of science and useful
arts. Edens presentation diverged, by elaborating how the Constitutions definition of copyright
is translated in real life through case law and guidelines and best practices. An interesting bit
of current events she mentioned was the Georgia State e-reserves case. This was a real-life
example of how case law constantly shapes the enforcement of copyright. Georgia State
allegedly had allowed illegal distribution of material from its e-reserves without permission from
publishers. Because there was no precedent for this situation, the case had to go through several
levels of courts in order to be deemed legal or otherwise.
The lecture and Edens presentation converged back together by defining the types of
intellectual property. However, while lecture claimed that there were six types of property,
Edens talk only brought up four, omitting industrial design and trade dress. Whether this
stemmed from a bias in the presenting GSIs tech background or Edens fairly narrow focus on
publishing is difficult to confirm.
Besides the more cut-and-dry material on the formalities of copyright, Eden went more in
depth with the conflict between protecting inventors versus protecting open access. This was a
point that was briefly glossed over in class lecture, but Eden brought more life to it by bringing
up more applicable examples. In terms of her line of work, Edens responsibilities are twofold:
working in academia and working with authors making more private deals. Students and faculty
come to her with questions on whether they are breaching copyright by using property such as
the block M in their student organizations or films and books in their classes. In these cases,
she seems to present that attitude that avoiding limitations to education takes priority over
copyright protection. However, while advising authors, Eden advises authors to take as much
ownership over their own work as possible, away from publishing firms. Edens split attitudes in
her two realms of influence illustrate the shades of grey in interpreting copyright law. This is a
major takeaway that I observed from the presentation.
As the presentation progressed, Edens depiction of copyright became more and more
nuanced. She stated that part of the beauty of copyright in modern times was how it was not
black-and-white, but instead dependent on the specific situation. Protecting the little guy
should always be a major concern, especially when innovation and education is at stake.