LIASA Virtual Events

Digitisation and the South African Copyright Law

Friday 14 August 2020 at 10:00

More Information:

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected library services in a number of ways, especially pertaining to the accessibility of previously analogue materials in an online environment. This challenge is not new to libraries as many of our institutions have been digitizing materials and placing said materials in repositories for online accessibility. There are different opinions that entail these initiatives, more so as to the legal environment in which these initiatives operate within.

Please join us as Dr Tobias Schonwetter (Director of the Intellectual Property Unit and Associate Professor in the Department of Commercial Law at the University of Cape Town) address some of the questions that we as librarians often have to deal with.

Some of the specific areas that we aim to address include:

1. When are items considered to be in the public domain in South Africa, and what can we do with these items?
2. Can we claim copyright to materials in our collections if individuals or entities have deposited it?
3. As curators, are we allowed to digitise materials when we are uncertain as to who the copyright owner is/was especially in relation to archival materials?
4. As curators, are we allowed to assign certain Creative Commons licenses to materials that we digitise?
5. What rights do we have as the entities that digitised materials, e.g. do we own the digital copies? Can we charge fees for reproduction in published works?
6. What should we be asking from depositors when accepting collections, and how do we ensure that our deposit agreements are legally correct?
7. Photos and manuscripts are often distributed on social media sites (especially historical or genealogical sites). Can I, without permission, download these and add these to my digital collection/s?
8. What, if any, are the exceptions to the South African Copyright Act, e.g. Fair Use?
9. How, hypothetically, will the proposed Copyright Amendment Bill impact on our services, and our ability to copy and distribute copyrighted materials for academic purposes?

Note that additional time will be allowed for questions. Virtual seating is limited and only 100 participants can be accommodated.

For any registration questions, please contact Annamarie Goosen at manager@liasa.org.za