July 14, 2008 -- The Library of Congress has released the International Study on the Impact of Copyright Law on Digital Preservation. The report is a joint effort of the Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, the Joint Information Systems Committee (external link), the Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law Project (external link), and the SURFfoundation (external link).
There are significant technical, financial and legal obstacles to digital preservation. This Report focuses on the law – in particular, on copyright and related rights issues. As the laws of the countries discussed in the report demonstrate, in many cases exceptions and limitations do not accommodate the actions required for digital preservation. The copyright and related rights issues, and various strategies to address them, are discussed in detail in the report.
The report is available here (PDF file, 1.58MB)
