AARL

The ideal copyright framework for academic authors? A bounty to genius and learning

Kathy Bowrey
kbowrey@bigpond.net.au.nospam

Abstract: This article discusses the situation of academic copyright within a broader discussion of the historical role of copyright law, libraries, academic publishing practices and changes in the digital environment. Because academics are both owners and users of copyrighted material and share interests as individual authors and as members of academic communities, neither a strong 'owners' nor 'user's' rights-based approach is particularly helpful. It is argued that in order to decide what the 'ideal' framework for academic copyright entails, we first need to decide what role we, as academics, and our universities, should play in the knowledge economy.

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