About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

10 J. Intell. Prop. L. 269 (2002-2003)
The New Access Right and Its Impact on Libraries and Library Users

handle is hein.journals/intpl10 and id is 275 raw text is: THE NEW ACCESS RIGHT AND ITS IMPACT ON LIBRARIES AND LIBRARY USERS Laura N. Gasaway* I. INTRODUCTION The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act' (DMCA) added to the exclusive rights of copyright owners a right of access. There continues to be some debate about whether the DMCA actually created a right of access, but it appears to me that it has, whether directly or indirectly. The reality for libraries and library users is that copyright owners can apply technological protection measures to their works and, through the anti-circumvention provision of the DMCA, have the means to control access. The DMCA ensured that the legal system would support this right by making it illegal to circumvent a protection measure. Whether this is truly a new right or whether it is inherent in the migration from analog to digital works, the impact on libraries and the users of these works is the same: digital works will not be freely available in libraries, and by controlling access, copyright holders may also control use of the work. In the past, the users of copyrighted works had a variety of means to obtain access to these works and the information contained therein. A reader could purchase a copy of the work, borrow it from someone who owned a copy, go to a library and either use a copy of the work in the library or even check it out from the library's collection and take the work home to use in private. As more and more works are available in digital format, copyright owners are either licensing access to the material or using technological protection measures to control access to their works. Mary M. Case noted that as the laws change to secure content for publishers, there is a negative impact on those in the educational and research communities where the creation, dissemination, and use of intellectual property is expected and, in fact, forms the very core of learning and research.'2 Licensing also raises serious issues for libraries, especially licenses that offer only take it or leave it terms and permit little or no negotiation. However, licensing is generally outside the scope of this Article. * Director of the Law Library & Professor of Law, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 1201 (a) (2000). 2 Mary M. Case, Promoting Open Access: Developing New Strategies for Managing Copynight and IntedkualProperty, ARL Bimonthly Report, Feb. 2002, availabe at http://www.arl.org/newsltr/220/ access.html.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most