Session 4B
14.30 – 15.30 Parallel Session 4B
"Sign on the Dotted Line Please : Contracts and Licensing in Legal Information Work"
Laurence Bebbington – Nottingham University
Laurence Bebbington is Faculty Team Leader (Social Sciences, Law and Education) and Information Services Copyright Officer at the University of Nottingham. He is a former Vice Chair of UKOLUG/UKeIG. He has presented papers or taken seminars on various aspects of legal issues in information work. He has published various articles and papers and is a joint editor (with C.J. Armstrong) and contributor to the 2nd edition of Staying Legal: A Guide To Issues And Practice Affecting the Library, Information and Publishing Sectors, FACET (2003). In 2008 he gave course on copyright and IP rights for eIFL in Istanbul and Kaduna in Nigeria promoting awareness of copyright for librarians in developing countries.
Outline:
Contracts and licences are a fundamental part of information work. They are perhaps particularly rigorous in legal information work because of the highly commercial nature of legal content, the contexts in which it is used, the uses to which lawyers, academics, students and other users may wish to put the material and other factors. Increasingly companies and organisations such as solicitors firms, chambers, universities and individuals are generating their own content raising new and challenging issues for legal information specialists. This session will review current practice, issues and developments in contracts and licensing in legal information work.
It will cover important areas such as:
- The contexts of licensing content in legal information work
- What are the key issues, terms and conditions in contracts for legal content?
- What are the key dos and don'ts in agreeing contracts?
- What are the main risk areas?
- What is the role of model licences and contracts?
- What is the likely impact of new forms of contracts and licences? How should they be used?
- How do you deal with licensors? How can you influence contracts and licences?
- Tips on preparing, negotiating and managing contracts
