While patents have become potentially valuable properties for American research universities, they pose some significant ethical dilemmas concerning objectivity to or by the faculty that can and should be resolved. (MSE)

Three categories of legal issues generated by computers on campus are examined: copyrights on programs developed by students, faculty, or staff; contracts in purchasing computers and torts concerning wrongful use; and the expectation that schools will respond to legal/ethical issues differently than commercial organizations. Suggestions for…

ARL is the bimonthly report on research library issues and actions from ARL (Association of Research Libraries), CNI (Coalition of Networked Information), and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). ARL reports on current issues of interest to academic and research library administrators, staff, and users; higher education…

This compendium focuses on intellectual property law, which includes copyrights, patents, and trademarks as well as applications of intellectual property in distance learning software, the Internet, and research data. It includes formal journal articles, policies, and outlines from the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Ten…

Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig asserts that laws concerning copyright and the Internet have a negative impact on the expression and dissemination of ideas and innovation. Unlike other technologies, the Internet's historical design and technical structure produced an environment that was creative, protected, and free--a place in…

This report to the President and Congress provides an overview of digital libraries. The following related findings are discussed: the full potential of today's digital libraries to support the national challenge transformations has not yet been realized; the federal government can and should do much more to further the science, technology, and…

This document represents the higher education and library community's guiding public policy agenda on information technology (IT) for the current year. The Higher Education Information Technology (HEIT) Alliance is a coalition of 11 national higher education and library associations, whose members represent a broad array of stakeholders on college…

Discusses proceedings of the 1996 ASIS (American Society for Information Science) annual meeting in Baltimore (Maryland), including chaos theory; electronic universities; distance education; intellectual property, including information privacy on the Internet; the need for leadership in libraries and information centers; information warfare and…

This article examines federal law and institutional policies relevant to copyright and intellectual property as they apply to faculty and students in teacher education programs in special education. Copyright law and intellectual property are explained, including changes associated with the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization…

Discusses issues related to electronic publishing. Topics include writing; reading; production, distribution, and commerce; copyright and ownership of intellectual property; archival storage; technical obsolescence; control of content; equality of access; and cultural changes. (Author/LRW)

Suggests a plagiarism policy that would respect present concerns and discipline but would allow for an enlarged range of definitions of and motivations for plagiarism. Brings to bear contemporary theoretical approaches that take issue with authoring as an autonomous, individual, original act. (TB)

The argument that universities have the right to exploit faculty work products as "works made for hire" is examined in light of recent Supreme Court cases on copyright law and the First Amendment. It is concluded that, despite the seemingly broad sweep of the work for hire provision, this provision of the Copyright Law cannot be…

Educators and librarians are concerned that, if fair use principles for copyright of electronic data are not resolved soon, traditional scholarly and educational communication will be seriously disrupted. The Clinton Administration's Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights has been searching for common ground with copyright owners in an…

Includes 248 citations to articles, books, reports, government publications, and chapters in collected works covering government information policy, government publications, and information resources in United States, foreign countries, and international and intergovernmental units; government archives; U.S. state/local publications and…

The ability to collect, store, retrieve, and combine information in computerized databases has magnified the potential for misuse of information. Laws have begun to deal with these new threats by expanding rights of privacy, copyright, misrepresentation, products liability, and defamation. Laws regarding computerized databases are certain to…