I. Information collection and collation and intellectual property protection
Information collection is the basis of library information service. In this regard, the main intellectual property issue involved in the library is whether the collected information products are legal information products. China promulgated the Copyright Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on 1990, acceded to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the universal copyright convention Convention on 1992, and promulgated the Provisions on the Implementation of International Copyright Treaties on 1992. Therefore, legally speaking, whether it is domestic or foreign works, according to the relevant laws and regulations, copying and distributing his works for profit without the permission of the copyright owner, or copying and distributing his audio and video products without the permission of the audio and video producer, is an infringement, and his works are also illegal publications.
Two. Information service and intellectual property protection
1. Borrowing: Books and periodicals borrowing is a main service mode provided by the library for users. There has always been a "public lending right" controversy in the library circle about the book borrowing of copyright owners. "public lending right" here refers to the author's right to get paid for lending his books to readers by the library. It has developed rapidly in western countries. At present, Britain and the United States have begun to implement this system in public libraries. In China, due to the underdeveloped economy and culture, the adoption of the "public lending right" system will not be conducive to the dissemination of knowledge, but will also have a negative impact on scientific and technological progress. Therefore, the Copyright Law clearly stipulates that "studying, researching or appreciating the published works of others for individuals" can be done without the permission of the copyright owner and without paying remuneration to him, but whether this is appropriate or not is still controversial.
2. Replication: Replication is an important means to make information widely disseminated and utilized. In the copyright law, it is defined as "the act of making one or more copies of a work by printing, copying, copying, rubbing, recording, video recording, copying and remaking". However, the development of modern technology seems to give new meaning to copying, and new ways such as CD burning, electronic scanning and downloading information on the Internet are all regarded as important ways of copying. Although [Copyright Law] clearly stipulates that copying published works in small quantities for school classroom teaching or scientific research, for the use of teaching or scientific researchers, or for the needs of displaying or preserving editions in libraries and archives belongs to the category of reasonable use of copying, some problems have to be reconsidered due to the particularity of new copying methods and copying objects.
First of all, whether it is legal to digitally provide the original printed works to users and whether new works have been produced, the industry basically draws the conclusion that it is legal to copy them within the scope of "reasonable utilization" but not allowed to be published; Secondly, whether users need the permission of the copyright owner to download the information put by the library on the Internet through the Internet or LAN or whether they can copy it at will is closely related to the determination of the mode of transmission of digital works, which is still the focus of debate. Thirdly, if the user reads the information put on the Internet by the library, does the information temporarily stored in the random access memory constitute copying behavior, and does the reader have the right to deal with it in various forms? Therefore, if the library does not handle it properly, it will easily lead to infringement, which we should pay enough attention to.
3. Network communication of digital works: In recent years, the rapid development and all-round popularization of computer networks have also brought a new way of information dissemination: network communication. This network communication mode can not only spread text information in a wider range at a faster speed, but also deliver multimedia information such as sound, graphics, images and animations to users, which makes it more and more common for libraries to spread information through the network. The dissemination of digital works on the Internet has many forms, such as electronic database retrieval, video on demand, network distance teaching and so on.
1) electronic database has the characteristics of large storage capacity and convenient retrieval, and can contain a variety of information, such as words, sounds, images, etc. Since it came out, it has been favored by information workers, especially with the appearance of WWW retrieval mode, ordinary users can easily find the information they need without training, so most libraries have introduced or established various databases and provided services to users through local area network or INTERNET network.
2) VOD is a new technology. Through video-on-demand, users can use the remote controller of computer or TV set at the far end, and get the video programs they need from a large number of video materials collected at random in the library through the network. This way is an important way for libraries to spread video information to users.
3) Network distance education is a new type of education with the development of modern information technology, especially computer network technology and multimedia technology. People can realize "anytime, anywhere interaction" teaching activities in the computer network environment without the limitation of time and space. Library is an important base for developing network distance education. A large number of teaching software and information resources need to be disseminated to readers through the library on the Internet to meet their information needs.
No matter what form of network communication, we must first make clear what kind of behavior it is to spread digital works to the public through computer networks, and then determine whether this behavior belongs to the fair use of works or the exclusive rights of copyright owners. There are two views on the first question. Some scholars believe that it is a kind of "distribution" behavior, on the grounds that distribution refers to providing a certain number of copies of works to the public by selling or renting to meet the reasonable needs of the public. When a user downloads a work from the Internet, as long as the digitized information enters the user's RAM, the original work can be stably reproduced for a certain period of time or permanently, which constitutes a "copy" behavior and thus a "distribution" behavior. Some scholars think it is similar to "broadcasting" on the grounds that broadcasting refers to the dissemination of works through radio waves, cable TV and other means, but there is no essential difference between works disseminated by network and works disseminated by cable TV. Taking network communication as public communication can avoid the contradiction of the principle of exhaustion of distribution rights and there is no need to expand the definition of "distribution". As for the second question, most people think that providing readers with permanent copies of works requires the authorization of the copyright owner in addition to reasonable copying, which can be made clear by signing a license agreement, such as restricting the access scope, that is, only accessing in a specific place or domain name, charging according to the number of visits, and restricting readers' copying and dissemination of works through digital watermarking, electronic signature, password and CA(CertificationAuthority) authentication technology.
4. Information consulting service: The consulting service is mainly the work of searching special information in detail and compiling various secondary and tertiary documents on behalf of users, which is a deep-level service work carried out by the library. Because all these works are based on the research, processing and arrangement of other people's works, and the research results, that is, the studied works will be provided to users in part or in whole, the development of these works will involve intellectual property rights. Whether it is manual access or machine access, if a small amount of relevant materials are copied for users' teaching and scientific research, it should be within the scope of "reasonable use", but if a large number of relevant materials are copied, especially a large number of database contents are copied for users to use for other purposes, it is a serious infringement. When purchasing a database, the general library will make some clear provisions on the reasonable use scope of the database in the contract signed with the publishing house, such as the nature of users and the way of copying.
5. Resource sharing: In recent years, with the rapid increase in the price of books and periodicals and the rapid expansion of information, more and more information workers have realized that only through resource sharing can the growing information needs of users be met. At the same time, the development of technology makes it possible for libraries to share resources, so various alliances have been formed between libraries, hoping to meet the needs of users through joint ordering, interlibrary loan and document delivery. Although these practices are conducive to the dissemination of information, they also bring a problem to the protection of intellectual property rights, that is, multiple users can use the same copy through the network and digital technology within the scope permitted by law, which will break the balance between the interests obtained by copyright owners and publishers and the public's access to information. Some publishers are beginning to worry about whether the first book purchased by the library will become the last book for many users. How to re-establish the balance between the author's rights and interests and the public's interests in the modern technological environment has attracted more and more attention.
Third, the production of information products
1. Editing works: It has always been an important task of the library to collect information according to a specific purpose and reorganize it to form new works. Traditional libraries mainly carry out retrieval tools such as bibliography and index, compilation of three kinds of documents such as summary, compilation of special materials and other paper work. Now, with the popularization of computers, the maturity of database technology and the simplification of information digitalization, more and more libraries are beginning to set foot in the production of databases and multimedia works, for example, establishing bibliographic databases, joint catalog databases, various navigation databases, multimedia thematic databases and so on.
In this regard, intellectual property issues can be divided into two categories: one is whether the edited works have copyright and how to protect the copyright of self-built databases and multimedia works, and the other is whether the use of other people's works as materials in the production process requires the permission of the copyright owner and whether it will constitute an act of infringing others' copyright. Because the traditional printed and assembled works are basically recognized by copyright protection, the focus of these two kinds of problems is actually focused on databases and multimedia works.
Whether the database can be protected by copyright as an edited work is still controversial. A database is a collection of independent works or information that arranges data or other materials in a systematic and orderly way and expresses them electronically. According to China's copyright law and relevant international conventions, it can be recognized as a compilation work. However, because the contents of the database can be easily copied by others, and can be extracted and rearranged as needed to form a new database, it is difficult for people to distinguish whether it constitutes intellectual creation through the selection or arrangement of contents, which has led to a dispute over whether it is protected by copyright.
Multimedia works are information collections that simultaneously or alternately express media information such as text, data, sound and images by using digital technology. Usually a collection of two or more works. There are two views on the nature of this kind of works. One is to treat it as a collective work, because multimedia works have created a new form of expression, but they have not changed the attributes of collective works. One view is that it should not be simply regarded as an assembly work, but should be protected as a work like a film work. The reason is that the production of multimedia works can be said to be a complex system engineering, and it is necessary to select materials, conceive, create, synthesize and debug scripts, pictures and sounds with multimedia production software according to the overall design scheme, and finally form a playable product. Similar to the production of film works, since film works can be regarded as a kind of work alone, multimedia works can also be regarded as a kind of work alone. Regardless of the nature of multimedia works, it is obvious that multimedia works should be protected by copyright.
According to the current [Copyright Law] in various countries, people must obtain the permission of the copyright owner and pay him remuneration when using other people's works. Therefore, both database works and multimedia works are faced with a problem: how to obtain the permission of the copyright owner and use their works as materials for production. In the production of databases and multimedia works, a large number of original works with copyright are often used. If you want to find these copyright owners, first get their permission, and then pay their royalties one by one, it will take a lot of time, manpower and material resources for any production unit, and it is difficult to work in reality. In this case, some countries propose to set up a special copyright collective management organization to deal with the original materials in the production and use of databases and multimedia works, but this can only solve the problem of whether it can be paid. If the copyright owner demands high royalties, how to coordinate the relationship between the copyright owner and the producer is probably powerless.
2. Computer software production: the automation of information management is inseparable from computer software. As users of computer software, libraries are often developers of computer software. In the traditional copyright law, computer software is protected as a work. However, due to the particularity of computer software itself, China promulgated the Regulations on the Protection of Computer Software in June 199 1. Therefore, in China, the intellectual property protection of computer software will involve the Regulations on the Protection of Computer Software, the Copyright Law and the Trademark Law. In addition, some
At present, the mainstream of computer software protection is [Copyright Law] and computer software protection regulations. According to the relevant provisions of Copyright Law and Regulations on the Protection of Computer Software, these two laws and regulations can only protect the expression of software works at present, that is, the source code, object code and program solidified in computer program read-only memory are protected by both, while the ideas, concepts, discoveries, principles, algorithms, processing and operation methods used in developing software are not within the scope of protection. This has brought some problems to the producers. Although computer software is expressed in the form of programs and documents, and some functions are realized through them, the core of the whole work is the creativity of the producer. They realize the high value of software by reasonably organizing data structure and optimizing processing flow and algorithm, but once someone uses the author's ideas to independently develop software very similar to their own works, or adopts special methods. Modifying the variable name, function name or procedure name in software and adjusting the operation order of unimportant processes will present different forms, so it can be protected by law with dignity. In addition, computing software is easy to copy, and the cost of copying is very low, which also easily leads to serious illegal piracy. For these problems, producers can only protect their products by taking some special encryption measures. How to effectively protect the rights and interests of producers from the legal point of view is still a difficult problem and needs further study.
Four. Organization management and intellectual property protection
This aspect mainly involves the division of professional works and non-professional works and the ownership of professional works. Article 16 of the current copyright law stipulates that works created by citizens to complete the tasks of legal persons or unincorporated units belong to job works. In the following two cases, the author only enjoys the right of authorship, and other rights of copyright, such as the right of publication, modification, use and remuneration, are enjoyed by legal persons or unincorporated units: (1) professional works, such as engineering design, product design drawings and their descriptions, computer software, maps, etc. Mainly by using the material and technical conditions of the legal person or entity without legal personality, and the legal person or entity without legal personality shall be responsible for it; (2) The copyright of a job work that is enjoyed by a legal person or an unincorporated entity as stipulated by laws, administrative regulations or agreed in the contract shall be enjoyed by the author, and the legal person or an unincorporated entity shall only have the priority to use it within its business scope. In China, in addition to articles published by employees, information products of libraries are generally produced by information workers as part of their own work and using their own equipment during working hours. Therefore, such works should be professional works, and the author can enjoy the right of signature, while other rights of copyright should be owned by the library or the individuals or units entrusted by the library to produce products. At present, many units have taken some measures to avoid property disputes, protect the intellectual property rights of subordinate units, and coordinate the interests of employees and subordinate units, such as formulating their own intellectual property protection regulations according to relevant national laws and regulations, or making clear the responsibilities, rights and interests of employees and units as part of the contract when signing the employment contract.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) conclusion
1. In fact, the intellectual property issues involved in this library are far more than those discussed above, such as trademarks, website domain names, etc., and they have attracted more and more attention from the industry. It can also be seen that the intellectual property problems encountered by libraries in the future will become more and more complicated. This requires us information workers to pay close attention to the legislative trend of laws and regulations on intellectual property protection, follow the principle of fair use, correctly handle the relationship between property owners and users, pay attention to educating and guiding users to use the information provided by the library reasonably, and reduce or avoid the occurrence of infringement. At the same time, we should learn to use legal weapons to safeguard our rights and interests.
2. In the print media environment, the library can basically meet the various information needs of users according to the existing intellectual property protection law and the principle of fair use. However, with the transformation of information from print media to digital media and the update and development of information processing, storage, dissemination and utilization, the original laws and regulations can not fully meet the needs of technological development, so it is urgent to adjust and improve the traditional intellectual property system. At present, many countries are revising the original laws or formulating new laws and regulations to meet the needs of the information society. Information workers, together with legal workers, should pay close attention to the trends of international intellectual property legislation and practice, and make suggestions and suggestions for establishing and perfecting the intellectual property protection system suitable for China's national conditions, gradually realizing the integration with international practices, and realizing high-level intellectual property legal protection.
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