DDC und OCLC

["Bernhard Eversberg" <ev _at__ buch.biblio.etc.tu-bs.de>]

In diversen Projekten gibt oder gab es Bedenken, die DDC einzusetzen, weil OCLC 
als Verlag den Daumen drauf hat. Angeblich darf man z.B. keine DDC-Uebersicht in 
einer Datenbank praesentieren u. dgl.
In der Liste Autocat gab es gestern eine Meldung, die solche Bedenken denn doch 
ein wenig relativiert. Kurz: hoechstens wenn man einen Raubdruck auf den Markt 
bringt, gibt es was zu befuerchten.
Ich reiche das mal weiter:

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Wed, 24 Jul 2002 11:27:31 -0500
Send reply to:  	AUTOCAT <AUTOCAT _at__ LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU>,
       	Aaron Kuperman <akup _at__ loc.gov>
From:           	Aaron Kuperman <akup _at__ loc.gov>
Subject:        	Re: OCLC - DDC Property Claim
To:             	AUTOCAT _at__ LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU

On Tue, 23 Jul 2002, John Hostage wrote:
>  I think it's
> fair to say that no parts of the system become public domain just
> because they are older.  Certain very old editions of the schedules may
> be out of copyright, but copyright terms now extend for 95 years, thanks
> to the Mickey Mouse Monopoly Protection Act of 1998 :)

First edition of DDC was published well before 1900. Expired copyrights
didn't get revived, so after 56 years they became public domain (well
before the more recent laws). Also UDC has an entirely different copyright
structure. And none of this gets into the issue of what exactly is covered
by a copyright (the number, the caption, the idea that a given number is
used for a given subject) and what is fair use, not to mention the impact
of the copyright-owners having outsourced the editing of the schedules to
LC employees. Anything short of a "pirate" edition would probably not lead
to a definitive resolution, since neither side is likely to want to spend
a fortune litigating (there's no money in classification), but it might
make a good law review article.--Aaron

akup _at__ loc.gov

Aaron Wolfe Kuperman
(LC, Social Sciences Cataloging Division)

This note is NOT an official communication from the Library of Congress.


Bernhard Eversberg
Universitaetsbibliothek, Postf. 3329, 
D-38023 Braunschweig, Germany
Tel.  +49 531 391-5026 , -5011 , FAX  -5836
e-mail  B.Eversberg _at__ tu-bs.de