Objectionable materials

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

This message forwarded to liblicense-l by Peggy Johnson, University
of Minnesota.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Recently, we have received two contracts that draw heavily from the model
license at http://www.licensingmodels.com/academic.htm. This is a positive
move except for one clause that makes us very uncomfortable. This (from the
above site) is:

7.3 The Publisher reserves the right at any time to withdraw from the
Licensed Materials any item or part of an item for which it no longer
retains the right to publish, or which it has reasonable grounds to believe
infringes copyright or is defamatory, obscene, unlawful or otherwise
objectionable. The Publisher shall give written notice to the Licensee of
such withdrawal. If the withdrawal [represents more than ten per cent (10%)
of the book, journal or other publication in which it appeared, the
Publisher shall refund to the Licensee that part of the Fee that is in
proportion to the amount of material withdrawn and the remaining un-expired
portion of the Subscription Period][results in the Licensed Materials being
no longer useful to the Licensee, the Licensee may within thirty days of
such notice treat such changes as a breach of this License under clause
10.1.2 and 10.4].

I do not want a publisher deciding for my institution what is obscene. It
seems to me that obscenity is different from copyright infringement or
other areas that are more clearly legal or illegal. The courts can't even
define obscenity.

So -- how are other dealing with this?

Peggy Johnson, Assistant University Librarian
Editor, Technicalities
University of Minnesota Libraries   voice:    612-624-2312
499 Wilson Library                              fax:     612-626-9353
309  19th Ave. So.                      m-john@tc.umn.edu
Minneapolis MN 55455            http://www.lib.umn.edu