Intellectual Property Rights and Access

Using documents from the World Intellectual Property Organization plus the categories of owners and users described in IASA's Special Publication #6, "Ethical Principles for Sound and Audiovisual Archives," this tutorial will examine definitions of terms as well as differences that may exist between legal and ethical understandings of intellectual property rights, and the resulting implications for audiovisual archives.

Tutorial participants will be asked to investigate and bring along a brief summary of any types of property rights protected under their home country's copyright laws or any national statements regarding intellectual property rights. Basic descriptions of situations that may have arisen in participants' institutions regarding individual/community rights and access issues will also be helpful additions to the discussion of case studies. Finally we will look at various protocols being proposed to connect communities and institutions such as audiovisual archives that hold cultural heritage materials, and to create a dialogue in which access issues can be understood and resolved.