The Librarian’s Guide to Intellectual Property in the Digital Age

Citation

Smith, A. (2003), "The Librarian’s Guide to Intellectual Property in the Digital Age", The Electronic Library, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 270-271. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470310480551

The back cover blurb for this book states that it “provides quick reference to (intellectual property) issues that both you and your customers face on a daily basis”. The book divides into three broad sections: copyright, patents and trademarks. An introductory chapter outlines the differences between these three forms of intellectual property. The copyright section covers the basic rights ensured by copyright, then moves to a chapter on fair use – a significant aspect of this topic for librarians, since it underpins all library operations concerned with copyright materials. Two chapters are devoted to digital copyright and recent issues such as the DCMA and Napster. Educational implications are highlighted, since the author has a particular interest in distance learning and intellectual property.

The largest part of the book is devoted to patents – the author is obviously a patent buff. There is some interesting background on the history of the USA patent system, for example Selden’s manipulation of patents to provide a monopoly on production of motor vehicles in the USA until litigation by Ford overturned his patents in 1910. There are many illustrations of quirky or significant US patents. Two chapters illustrate US patent searching using the USPTO Web site as well as depository libraries and the USPTO library.

A final chapter discusses the basics of US trademark law, and is followed by a large section of questions and answers on intellectual property, some of which introduce interesting new material. There is a list of intellectual property Web sites (some of which inevitably are no longer current), which would be more useful if it was annotated.

A problem with The Librarian’s Guide to Intellectual Property in the Digital Age is that it is not clear whether it is a guide to intellectual property for librarians, or whether it is specifically concerned with digital intellectual property. The treatment of copyright is almost entirely concerned with digital developments, but the sections on patents and copyright virtually ignore digital developments. For instance there is little on the wide range of sources other than USPTO for online searching of patent information, particularly for non‐US patents. Patentability of computer software and biotechnology is not mentioned. The trademark section has little on searching, and nothing on digital developments such as the use of trademarks in domain names and on Web sites. Not even the delightful spoof news release (see for example <www.outofthecube.com/detailed/63.html>) that Microsoft had registered the trademark symbol is included! Even the treatment of digital copyright issues is patchy. There is little guidance for a library manager facing digital developments, such as the licensing of electronic resources, and software licensing is glossed over. Some recent developments do not appear: there is nothing on the TEACH act, UCITA, or the impact of Tasini decision on availability of freelance writer’s work in electronic databases.

The book has an almost exclusively US orientation, although this is not stated. There is only one page on the international patent system, compared with nine pages on “frivolous and unusual patents”. There is nothing on moral rights, and the Berne convention is only mentioned in the final questions and answers section.

There are a number of errors that have crept past the proof readers – Chapter 9 on “Determining the prior act” is in fact about determining prior ART; the table of “Fair use factors” wrongly states that “fair use would be permitted if … the amount used was central”; and Swan did in fact patent the electric light bulb, a year before Edison. Users concerned with intellectual property outside the USA will need to check details with other sources, since many assertions are specific to US intellectual property law.

While The Librarian’s Guide to Intellectual Property in the Digital Age makes interesting reading, and has some valuable information for librarians unfamiliar with US intellectual property law, it is not a comprehensive guide and would need to be augmented with other sources, such as Graham Cornish’s Copyright: Interpreting the Law for Libraries, Archives and Information Services.