| Anner Whitehead sends: "Greetings.
Anent interesting questions: The really interesting question, to my mind, is who is the copyright holder on the descriptions written by the registrants for inclusion in AIS publications.
If copyright inheres in the act of writing, and the author did not legally assign the rights to the AIS in the act of registering the name, then who really owns copyright to that description? Do registrants actually assign the legal rights to their official description to AIS?
Second interesting question, related to the first:
I was under the impression that because AIS is ICRA, re-publication of the standardized official cultivar description as created by the act of registration could not be limited, and indeed was to be encouraged. Part of the big picture, as I understood it, is to make sure the correct description is on record so it can be used when the plant is sold, or shown, wherever that may be.
If AIS claims copyright of the description in the Check List, can it be legally reproduced anywhere else? Is this a case of AIS giving permission to the Wiki to publish material, assuming it would do so, or is this material in effect already in the public domain because of the role of the AIS as ICRA? What about foreign registrations?
If the description as entered into the Wiki is said to be reproduced from the introducer's catalog, and that description is the same as in the AIS Check List, does AIS have anything to say about it?
Is the Wiki officially an AIS organ? I'm frankly not completely clear on this. There are docents, but is there an oversight committee? I have not been following the question too closely because this is my research season.
If the Wiki is officially an AIS organ, then the Board can say do this or don't do that for this and that reason, and stop giving away the store on our time and our dime, but if it is not an official organ, and AIS does not own the copyright, or if the official description, written by the introducer can and should be used any time the plant is described publicly to avoid confusion, then have you not, in effect, got several interesting questions to ponder?
I'm just asking.
Anner Whitehead Richmond VA USA " |