Join us for a conversation with Jack Bernard, Justin Bonfiglio, Melissa Levine, and Jessica Litman about the effort to determine the copyright status of works in the vast and growing collections of digitized library material. The library’s grant-funded, multi-institutional copyright review management system (CRMS) has thus far identified almost 200,000 public domain works that can now be read by anyone with an Internet connection.

The panel will discuss the challenges to designing a robust system for making copyright determinations, and highlight the importance of the public domain to research, scholarship, and creative expression, and to the fulfillment of copyright's promise to promote progress.

Jack Bernard is adjunct professor in the U-M schools of Law, Education, Information, and Public Policy. He serves as Associate General Counsel in the Office of the VP & General Counsel and Chair, and chairs the U-M Council for Disability Concerns.

Justin Bonfiglio is copyright specialist for U-M Library. He performs legal research and drafts memoranda on a range of copyright topics, in support of the IMLS-funded CRMS.

Melissa Levine is the lead copyright officer in the U-M Library, and is an expert in the legal issues facing libraries and museums. She is the principal investigator for the National Leadership Grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences, which funds the CRMS project.

Jessica Litman is the John F. Nickoll Professor of Law at the U-M Law School and professor at the U-M School of Information.