ORONO – Sometimes very good gets better. That is what is happening with the upcoming Copyright, Scholarship, and the Case for Open Access: Conference on the Intellectual Commons. The conference is set for 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20, at the Corbett Business Building at the University of Maine. Free registration is available at http://library.umaine.edu/COIC.

Several new additions to the agenda make it a practical event for anyone concerned about emerging paradigms that promise to change the academic publishing landscape, and to give scholars and other content creators greater say over how their work is used.

Neeru Paharia, from the San Francisco-based Creative Commons project, will be available at the conference to help participants create a new, less restrictive license for use of their work.

Presenters at the conference will include Hal Abelson of MIT; Peter Suber of Public Knowledge; Jean-Claude Guedon of the University of Montreal; Jon Ippolito, Joline Blais and Ted Coladarci of the University of Maine; and Rita Heimes of the Technology Law Center at the University of Maine Law School.