Author archives

Kyle K. Courtney is currently the Copyright Advisor for Harvard University, working out of the Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication. He works closely with Harvard Library to establish a culture of shared understanding of copyright issues among Harvard staff, faculty, and students. His work at Harvard also includes a role as the copyright and information policy advisor for HarvardX/edX. His “Copyright First Responders” initiative was profiled in Library Journal in 2013, and he was named a National Academic Library Mover & Shaker in 2015. In 2014, he founded Fair Use Week, now an international celebration sponsored annually by over 100+ universities, libraries, and other institutions. He also currently teaches research sessions at Harvard Law School, training first year law students on the fundamentals of legal research as part of the Legal Research and Writing program. He recently won a Knight Foundation Grant to develop technology for crowdsourcing copyright and fair use decisions. He also maintains a dual appointment at Northeastern University: teaching “Cyberlaw: Privacy, Ethics, and Digital Rights” for the interdisciplinary Information Assurance and Cybersecurity program at the College of Computer and Information Science and teaching both “Legal Research and Writing for LLM’s” and the “Advanced Legal Writing Workshop” at the Northeastern University School of Law. He holds a J.D. with distinction in Intellectual Property Law and an MSLIS. He is a published author and nationally recognized speaker on the topic of copyright, technology, libraries, and the law. His writing has appeared in Politico, Library Journal, and other publications. Kyle’s most recent book is titled MOOC’s and Libraries, published by Rowman & Littlefield, Ltd. His blog is at https://kylecourtney.com and he can be found on Twitter @KyleKCourtney.

Hold Fast, Harvard

Since 2025 the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has engaged in battles with major American institutions of higher education and research. Using the Trump administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, McMahon demands strict adherence to “educational principles” that include elimination of ‘DEI’ programs to quality for ‘preferential federal funding.’ In the case of Harvard University, this funding is on the order of $2.2 billion annually. Lawyer Kyle K. Courtney unravels the litigation at the heart of Harvard’s effort to preserve academic freedom and deny the administration another huge payoff with no transparency as to where the exortion money actually ends up.

Subjects: Economy, Education, Financial System, Free Speech, Healthcare, Legal Research, Medical Research, United States Law

Fair Use in the Age of AI: When Training Isn’t Copying, and Licensing Isn’t the Law

Kyle K. Courtney, both lawyer and librarian, is the Director of Copyright and Information Policy for Harvard Library. He guides us through the rapidly evolving legal landscape around artificial intelligence and copyright where two district court opinions now serve as early landmarks. As a result of these recent decisions, he concludes that the case is even stronger, and far more compelling, for libraries doing the same work in service of research, education, and public access.

Subjects: AI, Copyright, Courts & Technology, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, Search Engines, Social Media, Technology Trends, United States Law

Unholy Counsel: Stephen Miller, the Constitution, and the Vampiric Assault on States’ Rights

In this Mostly Lawful deep dive, we’ll examine how Trump (abetted by his most ghoulish advisor, Stephen Miller – basically Trump’s Count Dracula with a law degree and a hate for due process) has clashed with legal limits and states’ prerogatives—earning sharp rebukes from courts, generals, and even some conservatives. Strap in for a journey through Trump’s federalist faceplant, with your expert legal guide Kyle K. Courtney, complete with case law, statutory showdowns, vampires, and a healthy dose of dry wit.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Constitutional Law, Government Resources, Legal Research, United States Law

Connecticut House Passes Landmark eBook Bill

Kyle K. Courtney [he is a lawyer for libraries] spotlights the eBook Study Group, a national coalition of legal and policy experts focused on fair digital access for libraries, who applaud the 106–38 passage of long-awaited legislation by the Connecticut House of Representatives that will make eBook licenses more consistent with the library mission and better serve library users across the state. This effort is a benchmark for libraries and advocates in jurisdictions throughout the country who are battling restrictive licensing terms imposed by publishers.

Subjects: Congress, E-Books, KM, Legal Research, Legislative, Libraries & Librarians, Library Software & Technology

COVID-19, Copyright and Library Superpowers Part I

If you work in any of the higher ed institutions that are preparing to move online – maybe your copyright world has exploded in a range of questions on fair use, e-reserves, online access, scanning, digitization, and more! Many in the library community are working towards the best solution for students, faculty, staff, and patrons in this time of crisis. To help you navigate this process, lawyer, librarian, copyright academic Kyle K. Courtney’s Two Part article offers a wealth of guidance on the legal tools libraries have for copyright as “stewards of access” in our communities. [See Part 2]

Subjects: Copyright, Education, Federal Legislative Research, Health, Law Librarians, Legal Education, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, Licensing, Reference Resources

COVID-19, Copyright, and Library Superpowers Part II

If you work in any of the higher ed institutions that are preparing to move online – maybe your copyright world has exploded in a range of questions on fair use, e-reserves, online access, scanning, digitization, and more! Many in the library community are working towards the best solution for students, faculty, staff, and patrons in this time of crisis. To help you navigate this process, lawyer, librarian, copyright academic Kyle K. Courtney’s Two Part article offers a wealth of guidance on the legal tools libraries have for copyright as “stewards of access” in our communities. [See Part 1]

Subjects: Copyright, Document Delivery, Education, Health, KM, Law Librarians, Legal Education, Legislative, Licensing, Reference Resources, United States Law