Re: Internet Archive's Open-Text Archives Initiative

["Sally Morris \(ALPSP\)" <chief-exec@alpsp.org>]

Some libraries have said that they are, at least for now, concentrating on
out-of-copyright works.  However, if you look at the Harvard press release
you will see that they do not believe such a restriction is necessary;  I
would beg to differ.

Sally Morris, Chief Executive
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
E-mail:  chief-exec@alpsp.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Goodman" <David.Goodman@liu.edu>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>; <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2004 3:15 AM
Subject: RE: Internet Archive's Open-Text Archives Initiative

> I am not aware that any of the present projects intend to concentrate of
> books still under copyright (If I am not correct, I would appreciate a
> correction.) If so , the most useful course for anyone concerned with
> libraries, literature, or scholarship would be the reform of the copyright
> laws, as recommended by the NOC report, though in a slightly differing
> context.  Since in the US it is clear that this change will not come
> through legal action, that leaves it up to the legislature.
>
> I think a compromise could be reached; the publishers are not asked to do
> any work, and have already recovered (or not, as the case may be) whatever
> costs they are likely to recover. I think the production of such an
> out-of- print book could be appropriately accompanied by a payment. The
> copyright holder will vary, but will often be the author.  If he or his
> estate can still be identified, an appropriate one time fee would make
> sense. If it can be shown to be the publisher, it would alternatively make
> sense to pay a small unexpected additional sum to the publisher. I'd
> suggest accompanying such a request by asking the author/estate/publisher
> to instead contribute the fee to the project.
>
> We are here dealing with different material from our usual sci-tech
> journal articles. In some cases th authors may have written just to get
> published, but most of them normally did expect a royalty.  I have not
> considered how to set the cost, except that it should be a one-time
> payment, and be considerably less that the production cost in making the
> book available. --unless of course the electronic copy stimulates such
> interest that a new hard copy edition becomes feasible.
>
> As Tolkien says in referring to a pirated edition of Lord of the Rings,
> "Those who believe in courtesy at least to living authors [will buy the
> authorized edition].
>
> Dr. David Goodman
> dgoodman@liu.edu