I’ll be speaking on the Copyright Users panel at the Copyright and Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences conference which takes place this Friday (30th March 2007) in Edinburgh. The event is being jointly organised by The British Academy and the AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the University of Edinburgh and aims to examine the recommendations that came out of the British Academy’s review of Copyright and Research.

The conference is an all day event and takes place at the Playfair Library Hall, Old College, University of Edinburgh, South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8. I’ll be travelling up to Edinburgh Thursday so if there is anyone based in the area who’d like to meet to talk about copyright, open knowledge or anything related please drop me a line on rufus [dot] pollock [at] okfn [dot] org.

According to the conference announcement (which has further details including the schedule and how to book a place):

The conference follows the Academy’s Review of Copyright and Research and its subsequent publication of a set of Guidelines by Professor Hector MacQueen of the AHRC Research Centre.

Recent developments in technology, legislation and practice have meant that the various copyright exemptions, which enable creative and scholarly work to advance, are not always achieving the intended purpose. A British Academy Review, Copyright and Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, published in September 2006, drew attention to the problems that were occurring and recommended ways in which they should be addressed. The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property (published December 2006) is a step in the right direction, as it seeks to strike a balance between copyright owners on the one hand, and copyright users (“follow-on innovators”) on the other hand. However, the main concerns raised by the Academy and others in the academic research community still need to be addressed. The conference aims to consider the findings and recommendations of the Academy Review, and place them in context post-Gowers. It will followed by a dinner to celebrate the Centre’s achievements.

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Rufus Pollock is Founder and President of Open Knowledge.

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