Re: OA and copyright (RE: Springer blasts Open Choice criticism)

[Joseph Esposito <espositoj@gmail.com>]

While I don't think the Springer Open Choice program is likely to be
successful in the long run (the administrative requirements for tracking
prices, Open Choice income, an institution's credits, etc., are likely to
be a tangle), it should be noted what Springer has NOT done: namely, used
the Open Choice flavor of Open Access as a way to increase income--as one
would have expected and which, frankly, Springer's shareholders have a
right to demand.  As reported in the OA debate in the Nature forum over
the past several months, at least one society journal (yes, a
not-for-profit) allows an author or author's proxy to purchase OA rights
after publication and ON TOP OF the subscription revenue.  In effect some
articles get paid for twice:  once as a subscription and a second time to
set it "free" in the OA world.  That Springer should have foregone this
option is a matter of wonder.

Joe Esposito


On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 22:02:38 EDT, Rick Anderson <rickand@unr.edu> wrote:
> > Open Choice has come in for criticism from OA vendors and bloggers for
> > being overpriced and not offering 'pure' open access because Springer
> > will retain copyright.
> 
> To the degree that people's objections are based on Springer's retention
> of copyright, it reflects an unfortunately narrow idea of OA.  I don't see
> any reason to object to an OA model that allows the whole world to read
> the content while leaving the traditionally exclusive rights of copyright
> holders intact.  If the point of OA is to make content freely available,
> rather than to undermine the very concept of intellectual property, then
> there's no reason at all why copyright can't be retained by either authors
> or the publishers to whom authors assign it.  It's really too bad that the
> three prevailing OA protocols (Berlin, Bethesda, Barcelona) all insist on
> requiring copyright holders to abdicate those exclusive rights.
> 
> ----
> Rick Anderson
> rickand@unr.edu