Overview[]
The Open Access to Knowledge Law Project (OAK Law Project)[1] is led by the Faculty of Law of the Queensland University of Technology and funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations. It is working towards facilitating optimal access to knowledge as a way of improving social, economic and cultural outcomes.
With this in mind, the project is developing practical and effective copyright management resources and protocols for removing barriers to the reuse of information within the Australian and international academic and research sector. As part of these activities, in 2007 the project launched its OAK List website[2], which categorises the publishing agreements of key Australian and other relevant publishers, to assist repository managers, funding organizations, universities, authors and members of the public in better understanding the operation of these agreements.
The OAK Law project also regularly publishes reports and guidelines, including: "OAK Law Project Report No. 1: Creating a legal framework for copyright management of open access within the Australian academic and research sectors" (2006), "Building the Infrastructure for Data Access and Reuse In Collaborative Research: An Analysis of the Legal Context" (2007) and "A Guide to Developing Open Access Through Your Digital Repository" (2007).