Intellectual Property

Links to General Resources

American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)  A professional association of attorneys specializing in intellectual property law. Includes a FAQ section, committee reports, and a meetings calendar. Provides information on patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Links to briefs, reports, job listings, and legislative information, as well as information on the upcoming annual meeting of the Association.

Association of Research Libraries, Copyright and Intellectual Property  Excellent starting point. Copyright Legislation; Court Cases/Legal Decisions; CONFU; International Activities; Orphan Works, Section 108 Study Group; Additional issues.

Center for the Study of the Public Domain  Located at Duke Law School, the Center promotes research and scholarship on the contributions of the public domain to speech, culture, science and innovation. Founded in September of 2002, the Center also promotes debate about the balance needed in our intellectual property system and  translates academic research into public policy solutions.

Copyright Advisory Network A resource for librarians from the American Library Association’s Office of Information Technology Policy, including a forum for discussion about copyright issues.

Copyright for Students, Librarians and Faculty  Explains how fair use exempts unpublished student research from copyright infringement but warns of file sharing and plagiarism.  Published as part of  the Connecticut State University Libraries CONSULS database.  Includes links to sections on copyright analysis, fair use, copyright for librarians and copyright for faculty.

Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights, and Licensing Issues
Presents information about copyright, intellectual property rights, and licensing issues, provided as part of the Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE, a project of the University of California at Berkeley Library. Links to current awareness and reference sites, as well as to sites of organizations, initiatives and projects, articles and papers, policy examples, and court opinions. Offers access to a bibliography.

Copyright Management Center
Provides access to a variety of resources about copyright in general and its importance to higher education. Includes content on: Fair Use for Teaching and Research, Rights and Claims of Ownership, Distance Education, Library Issues, Giving and Getting Permissions, Special Rules for Special Media.

Copyright Slider by Michael Brewer, American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy - Copyright Advisory Committee. Online digital pointer helps user determine potential infringement  issues.

Cornell University. Legal Information Institute. Law About Intellectual Property
Provides an overview with links to primary source material such as statutes, regulations, cases and treaties. Also links to key internet sites and off-site sources.

Creative Commons.  A non-profit organization that works to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing. Provides copyright licenses for free to the public. The web application platform permits users to license works freely for certain uses, on certain conditions; or dedicate  works to the public domain. These licenses enable content providers to easily change copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.”

Intellectual Property Owners' Association.  Intellectual Property Owners' Association (IPO), established in 1972, is a trade association for owners of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets.  It concentrates on: supporting members' interests relating to legislative and international issues; analyzing current IP issues; providing information and educational services; and disseminating information to the general public on the importance of intellectual property rights.  The web site includes a Law, Policy and Advocacy Section which provides IPO amicus briefs and the full text of federal circuit precedential patent law opinions since 1996.

Stanford University: Copyright and Fair use
Partial contents: Primary materials -- Current legislation, cases and issues -- Resources on the Internet -- Overview of copyright issues.

U.S. Copyright Office Website.  A one-stop site for forms, advice, instructions, reports, registration, fees, statutes, regulations, rulings of the Copyright Royalty Board..

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Contains the latest information on the international protection of copyright and related areas, with texts of relevant treaties and conventions. Information about WIPO, including texts of press releases, minutes of meetings, and selected WIPO publications.