Digital Commons Network^™

Thoughts On Dastar From A Copyright Perspective: A Welcome Step Toward Respite For The Public Domain, Lynn Mclain

All Faculty Scholarship

Though other questions remain unresolved and other leaks unstemmed, Dastar is a welcome step towards regaining the public domain, and towards establishing that the confines of the public domain, with regard to nondeceptive reproduction of public domain works, and preparation of derivative works based upon them, must be delimited by only the copyright and patent laws.

This article will provide a background discussion of the copyright and patent schemes and their delineation of the public domain. It then will discuss the role of trademark law in that balance, and some of the case law regarding both § 43 of the …

Copyright Corner: The Adoption Of Ucita In Maryland, Harvey K. Morrell

All Faculty Scholarship

In the December 1999 issue of AALL Spectrum, Charles Cronin provided a fine overview of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) and its potential impact on libraries. As he indicated, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) offered UCITA to several state legislatures for consideration, with Maryland and Virginia vying to become the first state to enact it. Virginia, whose legislative session began a couple of months before Maryland’s and whose process did not allow much opposition, was first across the line. However, one amendment, included near the end of the process, delayed implementation of the …