With all the discussions going on about desired pricing flexibility, I'd like to bring up another collector request that is arising more and more- digital rights licenses in perpetuity. The logic, which I agree with, is prior formats (DVDs, VHS, etc.) were not limited by a term. Plus it is an administrative burden for universities to track hundreds if not thousands of expiration dates. For this discussion, let's assume that it is within the distributor's rights to grant digital rights for the life of the original digital file.
I pick this scenario because I believe it is within distributor's rights to grant a perpetual DRL as long as the file format is not changed and some buyers seem to understand this and consider it an acceptable solution. However, I do not see how this reduces the university's administrative costs. You would still have to track the original file formats and make sure they are not changed. In fact it seems even harder to track and enforce because IT is often oblivious of copyright issues and would not necessarily notify librarians of any format changes. Am I missing something or would the above solution simply shift the admin burden, not eliminate it? Plenty of distributors would like to accommodate collector's needs as long as it is within their legal right to do so and they have reasonable assurances that university controls are in place to adhere to the license terms. Any thoughts or insights on how to achieve this? Bob Robert A. Norris Managing Director Film Ideas, Inc. Phone: (847) 419-0255 Email: [email protected] Web: www.filmideas.com
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
