COPYCENSE

The debate over the mass digitization and global availability of information has raged anew ever since late 2004 when Google publicly launched its ambitious plans to digitize and index the massive library collections of Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford, and the New York Public Library. Even as the Google Print Library Project has garnered the attention and applause of millions of consumers and educators, it has drawn the ire—and litigation—of the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers.

Yahoo has likewise entered the fray with its own project to digitize and make available for online searching millions of books from the University of California, the University of Toronto, the National Archives of England, and the European Archive. A joint effort with these and several other archives and technology companies, the Open Content Alliance hopes to avoid much of the controversy in which Google has been embroiled by digitizing only works in the public domain unless copyright holders give explicit permission otherwise.

From the sidewalk to the library, from the cubicle to the boardroom, and the classroom to the courtroom, everyone has an interest and a stake in how we as a society will answer the complex questions of intellectual property rights, copyright, piracy, fair use, ownership, access, distribution, compensation, and control that confront us every time we click our way along the information superhighway.

• How will higher education morph in coming years—and how has it already changed—as digital archives are built and expanded upon our campuses?
• What will be the parameters and responsibilities of scholarship as the academy becomes ever more digital and digitized?
• How might our relationships to our disciplines, repositories of knowledge, diverse media providers, and even each other alter as the waves of digital content multiply, swell, and flow through the academy?

Copyright at a Crossroads: The Impact of Mass Digitization on Copyright and Higher Education

Hosted by The Center for Intellectual Property, University of Maryland University College

3501 University Blvd. East

Adelphi, Maryland 20783

June 14-16, 2006

Fees: $225 per individual or just $575 for an institution.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.