The Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), Joint Information Systems Community (JISC), The Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law Project, and The SURFfoundation have just released their International Study on the Impact of Copyright Law on Digital Preservation [pdf].

In their own words, it, “focuses on the copyright and related laws of Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States and the impact of those laws on digital preservation of copyrighted works. It also addresses proposals for legislative reform and efforts to develop non-legislative solutions to the challenges that copyright law presents for digital preservation.”

One of the major causes for concern addressed here is the fact that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act has some very negative implications for digital preservation in that, “There is no specific authorization for libraries and archives to make preservation copies of published works in their collections. Section 108(c) deals with copying for replacement and does not specifically address preservation.”

I admittedly have to spend some more time with the report, but thought that I would share it in the time-being.