Browsing by Subject "Copyright"
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Item Byron?s Don Juan: Forms of Publication, Meanings, and Money(2012-02-14) Park, Jae YoungThis dissertation examines Byron's Don Juan and his attitude towards profits from the copyright money for publishing his poems. Recent studies on Don Juan and Byron have paid great attention to the poem especially in terms of the author's status as an unprecedented noble literary celebrity. Thus the hermeneutics of the poem has very often had a tendency to bind itself within the biographical understanding of the poet's socio-political practices. It is true that these studies are meaningful in that they highlighted and reconsidered the significance of the author's unique life so as to illustrate biographical and historical contexts of this Romantic text. Admitting the significance of the biographical approach, however, the current dissertation also argues that an interpretation of a literary work should consider a number of outside influences that affect the meaning of a text, which is in and of itself a creation of historical, political, economic, and material aspects of a specific time and place, not merely of an individual author. After the theoretical background suggested in Chapter I, Chapter II emphasizes the history of the publication of the first two cantos and investigates John Murray's publishing practices. Chapter III addresses some of the external influences on the reading of Don Juan to show that non-political content of the early five cantos came to be treated as politically radical by the voluntary and involuntary association of Byron and his work with radical publishers such as Leigh Hunt and William Hone. Chapter IV is a study of the new cantos of Don Juan (from the sixth canto). Focusing on Byron's political stance which gradually developed from his early liberalism into a more radical activism, this chapter explores Percy Shelley's influence on Byron's political ideas, the new cantos of Don Juan, and Byron's use of radical satire to instigate the fight against tyranny. Chapter V investigates Byron's attitude towards the profits he earned from the copyright of his poems to argue that Byron?s attitude towards his brain-money gradually changed from an ambiguous position to a strong insistence on obtaining what he perceived to be fair payments for his poems.Item Case study: copyright issues in distance education(Texas A&M University, 2006-10-30) Huddleston, Michael BOver the years, much attention has been given to copyright law in literature and as it pertains to textbooks and other original academic works. However, as the focus is narrowed to the copyright law as it relates to distance education within higher education, very little information or precedents can be looked to for guidance. For an institution of higher education involved in distance education, the problem demands that a model be developed specifically for universities to follow as they embrace distance education programs and course development. As the likelihood of lawsuits and grievances clearly exists, the motivation of faculty to create original works is potentially compromised when there is conflict between themselves and the universities who employ them. In addition, a set of guidelines in the form of a model lends a structural basis to university educators and administrators alike on which to formulate the process of developing distance education programs with a greatly reduced chance of legal incident. A case study design was chosen because it adds strength to what is known and deepens understanding of complex issues. According to Lincoln and Guba in their 1985 book, qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials: case study, personal experience, introspective, life story, interview, observational, historical, interactive, and visual texts that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individualsItem Considerations for creative commons : an examination for motivations of adoption or non-adoption of creative commons licenses(2011-05) Gloria, Marie Joan Tanedo; Stein, Laura Lynn, 1965-; Tyler, KathleenThis paper proposes an examination of Creative Commons (CC) licensing and considerations for adoption or non adoption among musicians. According to the Creative Commons Web site, the licenses were created to work alongside current copyright law allowing rights holders a “some rights reserved” copyright (“What is CC?”, Creative Commons, 2010). However, despite its current uptick in adoption, many remain hesitant and refuse to adopt the licenses to protect their work. Moreover, for those who have adopted the licenses, little is known about why they chose to adopt the licenses. Thus, the study answers the need for further research in understanding why musicians choose to use or not to use CC licenses. The study attempts to answer the following question: What considerations determine whether musicians adopt CC licenses for their work? In the pages that follow, I survey the historic and current position of copyright law. Specifically, the paper begins by problematizing current copyright law by demonstrating its economic and social inefficiencies in light of new advancements in technology. In other words, current copyright favors incumbent cultural industries who demand increased economic incentives at the expense of the public’s right to access these works. Moreover, it favors existing content holders who insist on creating laws that retain maximum control over their property. It then questions whether Creative Commons licenses can successfully reconcile these inefficiencies. Moreover, the overarching goal of this research is to examine the perceived viability of these licenses and to consider whether current advocacy efforts adequately address concerns of potential adopters. It analyze information gathered from multiple in-depth interviews of musicians who have and have not adopted the licenses. It will also examine advocacy efforts. The study hopes to contribute qualitative data that will shape future discussions on copyright, culture and new technologies by considering adequacies and or inadequacies of current licenses & advocacy efforts.Item Copyright and the future of digital culture : application of the first sale doctrine to digital copyrighted works(2015-08) Sang, Yoonmo; Strover, Sharon; Bracha, Oren; Jensen, Robert; Kumar, Shanti; Stein, LauraThe premise of this dissertation is that copyright law should exist to benefit primarily the public not the copyright holder. The current licensing schemes and copyright protection that favor copyright holders are viewed as running counter to the primary purpose of copyright legislation. Increasingly, the U.S. is moving toward a society where “owning” cultural works is not allowed and users of digital creative works are becoming mere licensees locked into restrictive licensing agreements imposed by copyright holders. The current copyright law has also failed to keep up with new ways that consumers of digital content interact with cultural works in their daily lives. This dissertation questions in particular how the first sale doctrine, one of the “safety valves” within the copyright system, can and should play a key role both in curbing structural tendencies toward overprotecting copyright and in re-establishing the fundamental rights of consumers. The first sale doctrine serves the important purpose of extinguishing the copyright owner’s right to control the subsequent disposition of that particular copy after its initial distribution. The purpose of this dissertation is twofold. First, this study seeks to move beyond the existing knowledge of the origin, application, and development of the first sale doctrine by providing an in-depth look at the ebook ecosystem where the doctrine plays out in conjunction with other socio-cultural factors that have shaped the current political and economic conditions and copyright regime with regard to ebooks. Second, drawing on the notion of cultural democracy rooted in democratic copyright theories, this study critically explores the doctrine’s ability to further the public’s interest in the wide access to and use of copyrighted works in the digital age. This dissertation is concerned with the implications of cultural democracy in a digital environment, including policy recommendations to reform and update the current copyright legislation. Ultimately, this study develops a framework to protect the rights of digital content consumers by promoting cultural democracy as one of the primary goals of democratic principles that copyright law intends to support.Item An industry in transformation : a master's report on news media economics(2011-05) Robertson, Benjamin Nicholas; Sylvie, George; Morrison, MarkThe focus of this report was the modern news media and how the industry has tried to adapt in a world where most news can be gathered with a few keystrokes for free. The report is segmented into four parts and investigates both how and what kind of news is consumed. The first part of the report focuses on the different types of news aggregators and how they affect the revenue of news sites. Pay-walls are also discussed, using The New York Times’ recent decision to charge for access to their web site as a starting point. Evidence shows that besides one glaring exception (The Wall Street Journal, which is examined as an aside) the attempts to charge customers for content that was once free have largely been fruitless. The second part investigates mobile-based applications (also known as “apps”) and their economic strengths and weaknesses; topics ranging from companies’ initial successes to the ease of piracy are examined. The third part examines the meteoric, although at times numerically misleading, rise of Twitter and its potential use as a news gathering and consuming source as well as its massive potential revenue streams. The fourth part examines what types of news are currently the most consumed, and dissects the profitability (and the attributes that lead to their popularity) of four genres: lifestyle, entertainment, business, and sports. The piece also looks at the potential of community-based, hyper-localized journalism, a venture that many claim profitable yet has failed to produce concrete results. Graphs are used as supplementary material for parts one and three. Taken as a whole, the report concludes that while there may be no sure-fire winner in the news media industry, the industry has finally shaken off the complacency that lead to hundreds of thousands of journalism jobs being lost and finally started to evolve.Item Internet piracy in Japan : Lessig’s modalities of constraint and Japanese file sharing(2010-05) Field, Shirley Gene, 1985-; Cather, Kirsten; Oppenheim, RobertThe rise of new digital technologies and the Internet has given more people than ever before the ability to copy and share music and video. Even as Japan has adopted stronger copyright protections, the number of Japanese peer-to-peer file sharing network users has multiplied. Though the distribution of copyrighted material online has long been illegal and, as of 2010, the download of copyrighted material is now a criminal act, illegal file sharing continues apace, with the majority of people active on Japan’s most popular file sharing programs remaining unaffected by the new legislation. Clearly the law alone does not work to constrain file sharing behavior in Japan and, in fact, it is not the only way Japan strives to enforce copyright law on the Internet. What strategies are industries and government taking to curb illegal file sharing and are these strategies effective? How is unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing cast into an act both immoral and worthy of criminal prosecution? Of particular interest are the evolution and growth of architectural and social constraints on online behavior alongside these legal constraints.Item Preventing heresy : censorship and privilege in sixteenth-century Mexican publishing(2012-12) Palacios, Albert Anthony; Twinam, Ann, 1946-; Wade, MariaPrevailing Catholic thought in the sixteenth century perceived heresy as a cancer on society and the printed word an effective carrier. Acceptance of this view throughout the Spanish kingdom resulted in the vigilant scrutiny of printed works, in particular those imported or produced in the Americas. Who reviewed manuscript works destined for or written in Mexico before the printing block hit the paper? Did the New Spanish bureaucracy repress colonial authors intellectually or financially? This thesis examines preventive censorship, or the inspection and licensing of manuscripts considered for publishing, and printing privilege in sixteenth-century Mexico. Mexican books printed 1540-1612 and official correspondence form the basis of this thesis. The overarching analysis is diachronic-bibliographic in nature. It starts with the origins of preventing censorship in Spain, its transference to New Spain, and its administration during the first decade of the American printing press (1487-1550). Thrusting ahead, it then delves into the bureaucratic, political, and economic nuances of the mature publishing practice at the turn of the century (1590-1612). The conclusion compares the bookend phases, defines factors, and looks at prevailing practices in Europe to contextualize Mexico’s unique publishing industry. In the Americas, religious authors established, financed, and developed the publishing economy to facilitate indigenous indoctrination and enculturation, enforce Christian hegemony, and promote higher education. As these authors came to dominate in the writing, censorship, and production of Mexican printed books throughout the sixteenth century, printers increasingly assumed a subordinate role. In the European printing industry, non-cleric officials predominantly censored manuscripts and printers assumed primary ownership of intellectual work. Inversing European practice, published authors in Mexico enjoyed significant influence over the censorship, printing, and economic potential of their intellectual fruits from the onset of colonization to the remainder of the sixteenth century and beyond.Item Resistance commons : file-sharing litigation and the social system of commoning(2011-08) Caraway, Brett Robert, 1974-; Stein, Laura Lynn, 1965-; Strover, Sharon; Cleaver, Harry M.; Mallapragada, Madhavi; Phillips, David J.This dissertation is an investigation into the practice of peer-to-peer file-sharing and the litigation campaign targeting individual file-sharers carried out by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from 2003 to 2008. The competing conceptualizations of social relations which motivate the conflict over peer-to-peer file-sharing are explored using a combination of Autonomist Marxist theory and structuration theory. Peer-to-peer file-sharing is framed as part of the social system of commoning stemming from the recent ascendancy of immaterial labor within that sector of the economy dedicated to the production and distribution of informational and cultural goods. The RIAA litigation campaign is framed as a reaction to the emergence of new forms of social relations which are seen by the content-producing industries as subversive of revenue streams premised on commodity exchange in informational and cultural goods. The history of the RIAA litigation campaign is presented in detail with careful attention given to those instances in which defendants and other interested parties fought back against RIAA legal actions. The acts of resistance within the legal arena affected the ultimate potential of the litigation campaign to control the spread of file-sharing activities. Subsequent legal campaigns which have been based on the RIAA litigation model are also examined. These later file-sharing cases have been met with similar forms of resistance which have likewise mitigated the impact of legal efforts to combat file-sharing. In addition, a survey of file-sharers is included in this research as part of an attempt to understand the relationship between legal actions targeting peer-to-peer systems and individual file-sharers and the technological and social development of peer-to-peer systems. This research argues that file-sharing litigation has proven ineffective in turning back the flood of file-sharing and may have increased the technological sophistication and community ties among file-sharers. In the end, the conflict over peer-to-peer file-sharing is cast as a manifestation of a larger dynamic of capitalist crisis as content-producing industries attempt to come to terms with the contradictory tendencies of immaterial labor and the production of common pools of digital resources.Item Session 3A | If you want something done right, do it yourself: Do Graduate Assistants (GAs) help or hinder in Institutional Repository (IR) projects?(2022-05-25) Hight, AlexaIn this show and fail, Alexa Hight will discuss the various projects for the Institutional Repository (IR) at TAMU-CC where either one or multiple Graduate Assistants (GAs) were enlisted. In the almost two years since the pandemic began, GAs have been tasked to help with IR projects during library closures, downtimes (such as summer), and a GA specific to help on Scholarly Communication projects was hired. In this time, I have somewhat learned how to manage a GA, I’m learning how to be a manager, I’m learning how to teach not only how to use DSpace, but also teaching the complexities and nuances of open access and what versions of works can be added to the IR, as well as what copyright or Creative Commons license we can apply. My experiences can help others new to managing an IR, as well as managing people (or trying to). I’ve also learned how to come up with metadata and other projects with short notice. I’m still learning how to balance supervision and quality control with my other responsibilities, as well as how to mentor and empower the GAs to be better employees and humans.