Europeana: First World War 1914- 1918 Digitisation Project – Rights Experience Benjamin White, Head of Intellectual Property British Library.

Europeana: First World War 1914-1918 Digitisation Project – Rights Experience

Benjamin White, Head of Intellectual Property

British Library

The Project

• Books

• Letters

• Trench Journals

• Posters

• Manuscripts

• Photographs etc etc

Copyright Duration

Life plus 70 years for all this collection – oldest work from the BL still in copyright is from 1870s.

Copyright Conundrum

Reputation

Law and Penalties for Infringement

Stakeholder relationships

What?

• Literary

• Dramatic

• Musical

• Artistic Works

What?

• English (UK, US, Canada, Australia etc)

• French (France, Belgium, UK)

• German (Germany, Austria, Australia)

• Serbo-Croat, Polish, Russian, Bulgarian

Best Way to Approach?

Has to be “chunked down” as have to have a starting point. Could be:

• By collection• By country• By type of work• By method of rights clearance

• Out of Copyright

• Governmental Copyrights

• Highly likely to be out of copyright

Starting Points for Digitisation

Depends on the circumstances but

•Does require a search

•Where a search is not possible engagement with that community important

•Advertising

•Letter writing – responses can be sporadic and varied.

What is a diligent search?

Costs of Digitisation of 1 Book of 200 pages …

Costs are €60 to digitise and preserve for a period of time.

Manual diligent search based on the BL / ARROW study of 4 hours per book is €112

• Google

• Collecting Society (Author, Publisher and Visual Works)

• ARROW

• Individual approaches to Publisher / Author / Agent

• Trade Associations

• Trade Directories

Methods and Sources of Information - Books

• Google

• Collecting Society (Publisher and Visual Works)

• Individual approaches to Publisher / Artist / Agent / Picture Library

• Trade Association

Methods and Sources of Information – Artistic works

• Google

• Communities

• Individual approaches

• Linked societies, institutions etc

• Advertising

Methods and Sources of Information – Other Material

• Is it an infringement?

• Is the rightsholder going to find out?

• If they do find out, are they likely to do anything about it?

• What is the likely financial or reputational damage?

Risk Assessment

• Notice and Takedown Policy on your website

• Keep a record of your diligent search

Other Things

[email protected]

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