Re: Fair use (RE: electronic journals CCC)

[Tom Williams <twilliam@bbl.usouthal.edu>]

Another point to add, many publishers make the scholars pay a fee to even
publish their articles and to add insult to injury the authors have to
sign ownership of the work over to the publisher.  If the author later
wants copies or reprints the publisher can (and does) charge them for
copies of their own work.  How many times can publishers expect to charge
for the same work?  There should be a limited number of time they can come
to the trough to collect.

Thomas L. Williams, AHIP
Director, Biomedical Libraries and
 Media Production Services
University of South Alabama
College of Medicine
Mobile, Al 36688-0002
tel. (334)460-6885
fax. (334)460-7638
twilliam@bbl.usouthal.edu

On Mon, 14 May 2001, Karl-Josef Ziegler wrote:

> Dear List!
> 
> Another argument often is also not mentioned:
> 
> Most of the scientific work done for a publication is financed by public
> grants. So the libraries in the universities have to "bought back" their
> own results spending public funds again. Using this system the scientific
> community has to pay twice for getting their results, i.e. advancement of
> science and knowledge. Is there no 'moral obligation' that these results
> should be (say, after a waiting period of about 6 or 12 month) in public
> domain?
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> - Karl-Josef Ziegler
> 
> ______
> 
> "T. Scott Plutchak" schrieb:
> > 
> > There's an additional point to this whole discussion that hasn't yet been
> > mentioned -- there's more at stake than the practical financial risk of
> > infringement.  There's a principle.  In this context, it is illuminating
> > to go back to the Williams & Wilkins vs. NLM copyright case of the late
> > sixties & early seventies.  That battle went on for almost a decade and
> > both sides recognized that the actual amount of money at stake was quite
> > small.  What was important to W&W was the principle that EVERY use of
> > copyrighted material ought to be paid for (remember that this case was
> > fought before Fair Use was codified into law).  What was important to NLM
> > was the principle that the general welfare requires that the public be
> > able to make some limited use of copyrighted material without having to
> > pay.
> .......