Copyright Seminar

You may contact Maxine Grosshans, the course liaison, for research-related questions at mgrosshans@law.umaryland.edu.

Getting Started

As with any project, unless you are already knowledgeable about the topic area, it is best to start with introductory resources and then to consult more focused works - moving from secondary to primary resources.

Articles and books can provide you with an overview of your topic and help you to think of search terms that you might not have thought of otherwise. They will also cite primary authorities such as statutes and case law. You can then use the primary sources cited in the secondary sources as a jumping off point to find other primary sources.

Journals and Law Reviews

The two main indexes to law journals and Legal Trac and Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (which includes books as well).

These indexes include references to many journals not included in Westlaw or Lexis databases and in some cases provide electronic access to the full text . Each of these online indexes has a parallel print version: The Current Law Index [K33.C87] and the Index to Legal Periodicals [K9.N32] are shelved near the print journals on Level 1. The Index to Legal Periodicals is particularly helpful for finding articles prior to 1980.

Most print journals are shelved on Level 1 of the library - in alphabetical order by journal title. Many of these titles also have an electronic version. use the e-journals link on the library web page or ask a librarian for help.

Here is a list of electronic journals that might help you research Copyright issues:

Databases

Academic Search Premier - indexes and abstracts over 4,500 journals including access to the full text of more than 3,600 journals
Collection of Laws for Internet Access (CLEA)
HeinOnline - full text in pdf format of over a thousand legal periodicals. There is also access to the U.S. Supreme Court Reports, United States Code, CFR, and the Federal Register.
Intellectual Property Library (BNA)
Pike & Fischer Internet Law and Regulation

Brief Bibliography

The following is a partial list of the Copyright Seminar related materials available in the Thurgood Marshall Law Library. The material is listed by main entry with the title and/or author information in bold type. The Library also contains a complete set of United States Codes, Statutes at Large, Code of Federal Regulations, and the Federal Register.

Looseleaf Services:

BNA Media Law Reporter. [Washington:] Bureau of National Affairs.
GEN STACKS KF2750.A7M4

CCH Copyright Law Reporter. Chicago, Ill.: Commerce Clearing House, c1980- .
GEN STACKS KF2991.5.C6

CCH Guide to Computer Law. Chicago, Ill.: Commerce Clearing House, c1989- .
KF390.5.C6G85 1989

Books and Treatises:

Bruce A. Lehman. The Conference on Fair Use: Final Report to the Commissioner on the Conclusion of the Conference on Fair Use. Washington, DC: Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights of the Information Infrastructure Task Force, [1998]. GEN STACKS KF3030.1.L44 1998

TyAnna K. Herrington. Controlling Voices: Intellectual Property, Humanistic Studies, and the Internet. Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 2001. GEN STACKS KF3030.1.H47 2001

Stephen E. Siwek. Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy : the 2000 Report. Washington, DC : International Intellectual Property Alliance, 2000. GEN STACKS KF2995.S59 2000

John W. Hazard, Jr. Copyright Law in Business and Practice. St. Paul, MN: West Group, 1998- . GEN STACKS KF2994.H35 1998

Siva Vaidhyanathan. Copyrights and Copywrongs: the Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity. New York: New York University Press, 2001. GEN STACKS Z642.V35 2001

Ruth Towse. Creativity, Incentive, and Reward : an Economic Analysis of Copyright and Culture in the Information Age. Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA : Edward Elgar, 2001. GEN STACKS Z581.T69 2001

Albrecht Reber. Film Copyright, Contracts, and Profit Participation. Weinheim; Cambridge : Wiley-VCH, 2000. GEN STACKS K1474.A20R12 2000.

Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer. Nimmer on Copyright: a Treatise on the Law of Literary, Musical and Artistic Property, and the Protection of Ideas. New York: M. Bender, 1978- . GEN STACKS KF2991.5.N5 1982

Mark A. Fischer, E. Gabriel Perle, & John Taylor Williams. Perle & Williams on Publishing Law. Gaithersburg [Md.]: Aspen Law & Business, 1999- . GEN STACKS KF2750.P4323 v. 1; GEN STACKS KF2750.P4323 v. 2

M. William Krasilovsky and Sidney Shemel. This Business of Music: the Definitive Guide to the Music Industry. New York: Billboard Books, 2000. GEN STACKS ML3790.S5 2000

Jörg Reinbothe & Silke von Lewinski. The WIPO treaties 1996 : the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty : commentary and legal analysis. [London] : Butterworths, 2002. GEN STACKS K1401 1996.W67 2002

Government & Legislative History Documents:

Alan Latman and James F. Lightstone, eds. The Kaminstein Legislative History Project : a Compendium and Analytical Index of Materials Leading to the Copyright Act of 1976. Littleton, Colo.: Published for the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. and New York University School of Law by F.B. Rothman, 1981. GEN STACKS KF2989.56.A16K35 (4 vols.) (This is a compiled legislative history of the 1976 Act.)

House Committee on International Relations. Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade. Costs of Internet piracy for the music and software industries : hearing before the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, July 19, 2000. Washington : U.S. G.P.O. : [U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, distributor], 2000 [i.e. 2001]. GOVDOC Y 4.IN 8/16:IN 8/20.

Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Music on the Internet: Is There an Upside to Downloading? : Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, Second Session, July 11, 2000. Washington : U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., [Congressional Sales Office], 2001. GOVDOC Y 4.J 89/2:S.HRG.106-1060. Also available electronically at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_senate_hearings&docid=f:74728.pdf.

House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property. Copyrighted Webcast Programming on the Internet: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, Second Session, June 15, 2000. Washington : U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, 2000. GOVDOC Y 4.J 89/1:106/119.

House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property. Collections of Information Antipiracy Act: Hearing before ... 106th Congress, 1st Session, on H.R. 354, March 18, 1999. Washington, DC : U.S. G.P.O., 2000. GOVDOC Y4.J 89/1:106-54.