RE: Bethesda and copyright (RE: OA and copyright -- Andy Gass quote in LJ News Wire)

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

>You wrote earlier of an author who publishes with Open Access that "...she
>fully abdicates her *exclusive* rights to copy and to distribute the
>article. She probably also effectively gives up the *exclusive* right to
>display it publicly." (My emphasis.)
>
>I accept that that maybe so.  But in an Open Access context it means that
>the world benefits from that, as she does herself.

Well, it does mean that the world benefits, assuming the article is of
sufficient quality.  But there's not much reason to believe that the
author will necessarily benefit.  (Of course, the traditional model offers
no guarantee of benefit to the author, either.)

> In the traditional context, the usual transfer of copyright to the
> publisher means that "She fully abdicates her rights to copy and to
> distribute the article. She also gives up the right to display it
> publicly."

Sure, but there's a fundamental difference: an author does have the option
retaining copyright when publishing under the traditional model.  Most
publishers may not agree to that, but there's nothing about the
traditional publishing model itself that says authors must transfer
copyright to publishers.  The question I'm trying to answer for myself is
whether publishing under the OA model _does_ mean that an author must
abdicate her copyright by, in essence, transferring it to the whole world.  
I didn't think so, but the Bethesda Principles do make such a renunciation
explicit; an author who publishes according to those principles retains
none of the exclusive rights that are integral to the concept of
copyright.  (And make no mistake, it is the exclusiveness of those rights,
not just the rights themselves, that makes copyright what it is.  If
everyone in the world has the right to copy and distribute my work, then
to say that I retain copyright in that work is meaningless.)  Obviously,
the Bethesda Principles are not the only OA protocol, though, so I guess
the answer to my original question is "it depends."  Maybe we don't need
(and shouldn't pursue) a single universal OA definition or model.

---
Rick Anderson
Dir. of Resource Acquisition
Univ. of Nevada, Reno Libraries
(775) 784-6500 x273
rickand@unr.edu