David R. Hansen

I’m an attorney who helps people preserve, access, and share information. I provide legal strategy for:

I advise on copyright, licensing, publishing contracts, fair use, and the intersection of research and publishing ethics and the law. I have also worked with organizations on legal quesitons related to acquisition and provenance or special collections. Over the last few years I have worked navigate legal questions raised by artificial intelligence — including the use of copyrighted works in training data, rights in outputs, and responsible approaches to open access and innovation.

Background

Headshot of David R. Hansen, attorney and librarian I am the Executive Director of Authors Alliance, a nonprofit that supports authors who want to be read and whose works benefit the world. I often write about copyright, publishing, and technology for Authors Alliance’s blog. Previously, I was Duke University's Associate University Librarian for Research, Collections and Scholarly Communications and Lead for Copyright and Information Policy. I was also a law librarian and Clinical Assistant Professor at UNC Chapel Hill, where I still occasionally adjunct teach. Before that, I was part of a project at UC Berkeley School of Law, the Digital Library Copyright Project, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

I hold law and library degrees from UNC Chapel Hill and I’m licensed to practice in North Carolina. My wife Janice and I live just outside Chapel Hill on our farm with our five kids.