Where is the Share Button? Intellectual Property Issues

Surrounding Data for Academic Research Libraries

Rebekah CummingsUniversity of California,

Los AngelesNovember 29, 2012

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What is a scholarly product?

Getty Image Collections: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=data&w=getty&z=e

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How did this happen?

• Collecting data is the most expensive part of research. $$$

• Big Data! • Goal of more efficient and transparent science• 2011 NSF Data Management Requirement

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What does this mean for libraries?

UCLA Powell Library- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Powell_Library,_UCLA_%28front_view%29.jpg

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What are Research Data?

• “the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings.”– U.S. Office of Budget and Management

• Data also includes… “information relevant to the data that is independent of the data themselves but without which the data would be incomprehensible.” – Ann Zimmerman

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Data and Copyright

“The discoverer of a scientific fact as to the nature of the physical world, an historical fact, a contemporary news event, or any other ‘fact’ may not claim to be the ‘author’ of that fact. If anyone may claim authorship of facts, it must be the Supreme Author of us all. The discoverer merely finds and records.”– Melville Nimmer

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THE LAW

• Feist v. Rural (1991) – phone books are not eligible for copyright; lack originality.

• Miller v. Universal Studios, Inc (1981) – Research is not eligible for copyright; we need facts to extend knowledge.

• Rosemont Enterprises Inc. v. Random House Inc (1966) – “copyright law does not forbid authors from saving time and effort by referring to and relying upon prior published material.”

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Case closed, right?

If facts = data And facts are not covered by copyrightThen data are not covered by copyright

NOT EXACTLY

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Things to Consider…

• All facts are data, but not all data are facts.• Different countries treat data differently

under copyright law.• Even in the U.S., if data are selected,

arranged, and coordinated in an original way, they may be covered by copyright.

(Uhlir, Developing Data Attribution and Citation Standards)

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Ownership of Data

Table from “Research Data Stewardship at UNC,” 2012

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Data Management Rollout Survey

JISC Data Management Rollout Project Survey Results- 2012- http://damaro.oucs.ox.ac.uk/outputs.xml

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How can librarians help?

• Make researchers aware of their rights• Encourage waivers or unrestrictive licenses to

encourage open sharing of data• Have a clear understanding of the three legal

mechanisms for sharing data and their pros and cons. – Contracts– Licenses– Waivers

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Questions?