JISC Legal

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published (12 Jan 2011) its latest guidance for public authorities on the new public sector equality duty which comes into force on 6 April 2011.

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Facebook is to make changes to ensure that users only share information when they intend to do so.

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JISC Legal recently contributed to the JANET factsheet on providing email addresses for alumni, including legal and contractual obligations.

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This JANET factsheet on providing email accounts for alumni is intended to assist in considering all the potential issues involved, with JISC Legal contribution from a legal perspective.

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A leading panel of experts has released a report advising the European Commission that in order to remain copyright protected rights holders should be required to register with EU countries.

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JISC Legal is currently seeking volunteers to join an informal Users Group to provide feedback on our activity on an ongoing basis.

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The European Commission has announced a consultation on the Commission report on the enforcement of intellectual property rights.

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Information Commissioner publishes top tips on freedom of information for public authority communications professionals.

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The Scottish Information Commissioner has published an updated edition of the guide for Scottish Public Authorities on Investigations detailing the procedure followed in an investigation and what information will be required from a public authority.

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The Article 29 Working Party, an independent European advisory body on data protection and privacy, has produced guidance on which member state’s law applies when processing data.

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JISC recently funded six records management related projects which used the JISC infoNet Impact Calculator to assess cost and savings in aspects of records management.

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The British Library has made available three million records from the British National Bibliography under a Creative Commons CC0 public domain licence.

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The government is set to extend freedom of information law to cover hundreds more organisations, including UCAS, in the forthcoming FOI Act.

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A coalition of American TV networks have won an injunction against a UK company which was streaming their content through its own website.

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The High Court has ruled that the Independent Safeguarding Authority are acting in breach of human rights law by imposing automatic bans on employees with criminal convictions or cautions.

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A recent decision of the Information Tribunal gives some guidance on the use of s.43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to conflicts between disclosure and confidentiality following an FOI request.

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The European Union and the US have published a website to encourage use of intellectual property rights.

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More than 70% of UK employees admitted to data theft in a recent survey, which also revealed that many companies have insufficient safeguards in place to prevent it.

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Sensitive Scottish court records were discovered at a recycling bank.

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 This newsletter is also available in Word and PDF Newslett...

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The Intellectual Property Office has published an updated version (01-01-2011) of the Manual of Patent Practice to take account of developments in patent law.

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The European Commission, by contracting other companies to work on copyright-protected software, was found liable for copyright infringement to the tune of 12 million euros.

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For those with a relevant Emerald subscription, Jason's review of Cornish's Copyright: Interpreting the Law for Libraries, Archives and Information Services (5th ed) is now available.

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From October 2010, the Patents County Court has been able to hear copyright infringement claims under a quicker, cheaper, simplified procedure.  Although a good thing in general access to justice terms, this does mean that those claiming in copyright have a more attractive route to litigation.

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JISC's Freedom of Information and Research Data: Questions and Answers, written by Andrew Charlesworth and Chris Rusbridge, is available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/foiresearchdata.

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Please note that JISC Legal will be taking a break from Friday, 24 December until Tuesday, 4 January (inclusive).  So, if you've got any urgent enquiries, now is the time to get them in to the JISC Legal helpdesk.

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Identifying changes in the UK's IP system to promote innovation and economic growth.

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Competition to improve how institutions conduct research and manage intellectual property rights.

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ICO has ordered the disclosure of information relating to BBC contracts.

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 In short where the institution does not own the copyright in materials and where the copyright period has not expired, permission, a licence or ... (cont)

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 There are, in fact, distinct, jurisdiction-specific versions of the CC licences ... (cont)

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This infoKit from JISC infoNet examines the use of collaborative online tools to support the interactions between further and higher education and its business and community partners.

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The JISC Legal team were able to make it back to the office today, and are available to answer your telephone enquiries.  You can also email us as usual at info@jisclegal.ac.uk, use the web form at www.jisclegal.ac.uk/helpdesk, or tweet us @jisclegal. 

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The University of Glasgow's 'Easy Access IP' and 'Commercial Deals' aim to transfer University-generated IP to the private sector.  For more information, please see: http://www.gla.ac.uk/businessandindustry/technology/.

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The ICO reminds colleges that the taking of photographs of students does not always result in processing of information under data protection laws.

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The code of practice aims to assist those in an organisation with responsibility for web products and for promoting and supporting equality and inclusion in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

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This significant case confirms that copyright can subsist in a newspaper headline. It also confirms that a user that pays for a web monitoring service requires a licence from the newspaper or the NLA.

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A consultation in respect of two specific changes to RIPA is being run by the Home Office.

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Your views are wanted on remedies for innocent infringement of UK registered designs.

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The French Senate has voted to reduce the rate of VAT payable on ebooks to 5.5 percent (from their standard rate of 19.6%), making the rate equal to that for printed books.

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In the world of intellectual property, there is no getting away from the fact that clearing rights in audio-visual resources is rarely straightforward. However, there’s a lot of good stuff out there that can be incorporated into OER, without the trials and frustrations of content clearance.

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This publication by JISC infoNet, the Association for Learning Technology and the Higher Education Academy explores whether e-Learning is delivering tangible benefits for learners, teachers and institutions.

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WIPO has agreed on a work programme that could lead to an international treaty involving mandatory exceptions for the benefit of users of copyright works. 

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This presentation 'IPR, Licences, and What Do I Have to Do?' was developed for the OER IPR support project.

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Penalty of £100,000 issued to Hertfordshire County Council for two serious incidents.

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The Creative Commons licence and logo could be embedded on the website and/or within the work.  The practice normally seen is to ... (cont)

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This collection of materials written by Web2Rights, provides briefings, guides, templates, models and sources of further information in order to assist open educational resource (OER) projects get to grips with intellectual property issues at the outset.

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A recent High Court case has clarified the liabilities with regard to online publishing.

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Causing "substantial damage or distress to individuals" by processing their personal data unfairly is likely to result in a fine.

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The Scottish government has just released information on the time and staff costs related to FOI requests.

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