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05.24.2018 | SSP News & Releases

Boston Regional Event puts Spotlight on Copyright Law

Dr. Stephen McJohn, a law professor from Suffolk University, gave an interesting and informative talk on copyright to a full and attentive crowd of scholarly communication professionals on May 15, as part of a recent SSP regional event held in Boston. The event was hosted by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and moderated by Christopher Kenneally, Director, Business Development at Copyright Clearance Center.

Dr. McJohn’s talk offered a broad look at copyright and some of the key cases and laws that have brought copyright law and fair-use doctrine to its current place. One such example was the recent copyright case over a selfie taken by a monkey in which the photographer who placed the camera in the monkey’s environment was challenged for the copyright by PETA.  Kenneally also guided the discussion with questions geared toward copyright’s impact in scholarly publishing. Questions from the audience allowed the discussion to cover ground from Creative Commons licensing all the way to blockchain.

Attendees who braved the torrential downpours to attend the event were able to network with fellow Boston-area colleagues over wine and snacks at the stately AMS headquarters both before and after the presentation. The event attracted a strong cross section of the scholarly publishing community with attendees representing libraries, publishers, journals, and vendors across many stages of careers.

The May 2018 Boston regional event was organized by Boston Regional Event co-chairs Jamie Wielgus and Erin Zoltowski and was made possible by sponsorship from the American Meteorological Society, Aries Systems, EBSCO, and Redlink.

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