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The mission of the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) is to (1) To provide a forum for discussion of problems, concerns, and for exchange of ideas by librarians working with government documents; (2) to provide a force for initiating and supporting programs to increase availability, use, and bibliographic control of documents; (3) to increase communication between documents librarians and other librarians; (4) to contribute to the extension and improvement of education and training of documents librarians.

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Dr. Kevin Smith's article: Jury Instructions Go Missing -- another example of the state copyright conundrum

  • 1.  Dr. Kevin Smith's article: Jury Instructions Go Missing -- another example of the state copyright conundrum

    Posted Oct 10, 2014 11:30 AM

    Hi -


    Dr. Kevin Smith has a great post on what our group, Free State Gov Info, calls the Copyright Conundrum. See the full post here: Jury Instructions Go Missing,



    http://blogs.library.duke.edu/scholcomm/#sthash.7f9DlSvd.dpuf


    Some key points from Dr. Smith's post --  but please read the full article it's short as these are the key soundbites I've selected:


    "The Pattern Jury Instructions are developed by the North Carolina Conference of Superior Court Judges.  That is, they are created by state officials as part of their official duties.  But unlike documents created by Federal employees, there is a copyright in these instructions, and that copyright has been given to the University of North Carolina School of Government."


    "...it is an important reminder that we cannot assume that public documents intended for a public purpose are necessarily public domain."


    "The states can and sometimes do claim copyright in official state documents."


    "The problem with this situation is that the different states take different approaches to what is and is not in the public domain, and also that a single state may be wildly inconsistent about its approach to different types of documents it creates."


    "The other instructive point in this is the realization that copyrights, especially those held by state and local government, may be used to enact policy goals that have nothing to do with copyright.  The purpose of copyright is, explicitly, to incentivize creation."


    and finally...


    In the ideal world, states would be more transparent about what they claim a copyright in and why.  - See more at: http://blogs.library.duke.edu/scholcomm/#sthash.7f9DlSvd.dpuf

    "In the ideal world, states would be more transparent about what they claim a copyright in and why."