Canada will soon have an OA Public Domain Registry. From yesterday's press release:
Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency and Creative Commons Canada, in partnership with Creative Commons Corporation in the US, today announced the development of a Canadian public domain registry. The ground-breaking project – the most comprehensive of its kind in Canada – will create an online, globally searchable [and OA] catalogue of published works that are in the Canadian public domain. “Canada has a rich cultural heritage of literature, music and fine art that is in the public domain just waiting to be freely enjoyed,” said Marcus Bornfreund of Creative Commons Canada, a non-profit organization that works in collaboration with Creative Commons US. “The problem until now was that there was no easy way to identify whether or not works are in the public domain. This registry will change that.” There is currently no one place where information about the public domain is collected. The registry will make published works in the Canadian public domain easily identifiable and accessible in an online catalogue. The project will develop in two stages – first, a comprehensive registry of works by Canadian creators that are in the public domain will be established. Eventually, the reach of the registry will expand to include the published works of creators from other countries. The public domain registry will be a non-profit project and freely accessible to the public online....The Wikimedia Foundation, developers of the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, will supply software that will allow the public to contribute information to the registry. "The public domain is our shared cultural heritage, and the best ground for the great new ideas of the future," said Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. "Without access to the public domain, we are cut off from our past, and therefore cut ourselves off from our future."...Individuals will be able to use the registry to determine whether a published work is in the public domain. The registry will also link to digital versions of the work, and provide information about where a paper copy of the work can be purchased. “Quick and easy access to legally available content is vital as we move further into the digital age,” said Roanie Levy, Access Copyright’s Director of Legal and External Affairs. “The public domain registry has limitless possibilities and will place Canadian cultural content at the leading edge of the public domain.”
Comment. Because legislators (in Canada and elsewhere) have frequently extended the term of copyright, it's non-trivial to figure out when a work is in the public domain. If the new registry is comprehensive, it will be useful for lifting this burden from ordinary users who don't want to risk liability, err on the side of non-use, or spend time and money tracking down copyright holders when it's no longer necessary. By adding links to OA versions of PD works, it will be even more useful. It should bring about one other consequence of great importance: heightened public awareness of the value of the public domain and the urgency of protecting it from further encroachments.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/04/2006 11:24:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
