Daily Archives: June 16, 2008

Virtual International Authority File

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Transliteration and romanization of foreign authors is often an obstacle in FCIL research. The rise of online book databases, such as HeinOnline’s Legal Classics and Gale’s Making of Modern Law, has exacerbated these problems. Many times, these databases use variations of surnames that are not used by OPACs or print bibliographies. Likewise, spelling variations can complicate searches in foreign library catalogs, especially those that do not follow AACR. Fortunately, OCLC, the Library of Congress, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and the Bibliothèque nationale de France have teamed up to create the Virtual International Authority File. One can look up individual authors and find alternative spellings using the 400 field (tracing of personal names). This is a great free resource. The only drawback is that it does not reproduce the names in the vernacular languages and alphabets, hence no Chinese characters or Semitic alphabets.

Virtual International Authority FIle http://orlabs.oclc.org/viaf/

Journal of East Asia and International Law

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The Yijun Insititute of International Law (Seoul, Korea) has published the inaugural issue of the Journal of East Asia and International Law. Articles are written in English and the editorial board includes academics from nine North American and Asian jurisdictions. This journal should help our understanding of the formation of formal and informal transnational law mechanisms in East Asia. The Current Law Journal Content Web site has already added the TOC from volume 1.

Journal of East Asia and International Law http://www.yijuninstitute.org/journal/

From the Journal Web site:

“Aims and Scope of the journal The Journal of East Asia and International Law (ISSN 1976-9229) aims to promote research and thinking of legal scholars and practitioners from both East Asia and another regions having its regional focus. The Journal is open to any international and comparative legal concerns and controversies regarding East Asian affairs. All aspects of international and comparative law applicable to East Asia will be covered by the scope of this Journal. In addition, significant developments relating to East Asia and international law will be dealt with. The Journal tries to bring those topics on the discussion table from an independent viewpoint of East Asia. The inter-regional character of the Journal is ensured by its Editorial and International Advisory Board drawn from outstanding lawyers from the countries in this region as well as from its global network.”

Fair use and blogs

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A story on page C7 of today’s New York Times caught my eye, “The Associated Press to Set Guidelines for Using Its Articles.”  According to the story, the A.P. is

going to challenge blog postings containing excerpts of A.P. articles “when we feel the use is more reproduction than reference, or when others are encouraged to cut and paste.”

The A.P. action is being taken following a dispute with the Drudge Retort.  The Times story suggests that the A.P. effort “may offer a prominent definition of the important but vague doctrine of ‘fair use,’ . . . “  Law professor Tim Wu is quoted as saying, “[t]he principal question is whether the excerpt is a substitute for the story, or some established adaptation of the story.”

 

Update:  Drudge Retort Considers Lawsuit Against AP  The Media Post Publications story quotes Anthony Falzone from the Stanford Law School Fair Use Project:

Anthony Falzone, executive director of that project, said the material that had been posted to Drudge Retort did not appear to infringe the wire service’s copyright. “The AP’s position is rather startling,” he said. “They (Drudge Retort) use very small snippets of Associated Press stories to generate discussion on the Web site about the issues. That would seem to be a rather clear fair use.”