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Licensing Agreements for Information Resources and Copyright Limitations and Exceptions

Faculty of Library and Information Science, University of Granada, Spain, jcfernan{at}ugr.es

The development of the digital environment has given way to the generalized online exploitation of intellectual works, so that licensing agreements are replacing sales as the habitual form of procuring access and use. This means that contract law acquires unprecedented relevance in publisher-user relations. The partial displacement of copyright law by contract law is not exempt from problems: through these licensing agreements libraries are being obligated, either by the absence of negotiation or the lack of balanced agreements, to renounce the enjoyment of copyright limitations and exceptions that benefit them, interfering with their important social role of helping citizens obtain information. The solutions to this problem can be found in three different yet complementary approaches: the constitution of consortia, greater information and training for professionals, and finally - and this is the focus of the analysis presented here - the modification of copyright law so that licences that stipulate against the most fundamental limitations and exceptions to copyright might be declared null and void, in the interest of maintaining a copyright equilibrium.

Key Words: copyright • intellectual property • digital rights management • contract law • licensing • access to information • fair use • exemptions • libraries • public

Journal of Information Science, Vol. 30, No. 4, 337-346 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0165551504045853


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