Re: Click-through Licenses

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

Andrew Wohrley of Auburn University writes the following:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>From WOHRLAJ@groupwise1.duc.auburn.edu Thu Feb  4 15:30:56 1999
Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 14:32:31 -0600
From: "Andrew Wohrley" <WOHRLAJ@groupwise1.duc.auburn.edu>
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu

Mr. Heide,

I may have missed most of the responses to your message, but I feel I need
to modify your question and then answer it.  First of all you limited your
question to matters related to libraries "in the copyright sense."  It is
my impression as an engineering librarian that the goals of the publishing
industry are:

1.) The most restrictive possible interpretation of copyright law.
2.) The imposition of "eternal copyright".

These goals drive the publishing industry to view everything as a
copyright issue.

It probably is not technically accurate to state that a problem that we
have with a British University publisher of a database is a fair use
problem, it is more of a traditional use problem, but we have encountered
a publisher that will not modify terms so that:

1.) Walk-in patrons not connected with the University can use the product.

2.) We do not have to run to the UK to adjudicate any contract
dispute--something that our state law will not permit us anyway.

We have been told that said British university publisher will never and
has never accepted the modifications that we need.  Therefore, we will not
do business with this publisher.  Maybe another entity on campus can, but
we in the library won't.

Since I am talking about copyright and publishers another item that
concerns me a great deal is the determination of almost all publishers to
shirk their duty to provide electronic access in perpetuity.  I have
talked to publishing represtatives several times on this, and each time I
ask them I get a shrug, like, "why would you want that?"  There is nothing
that publishers and libraries are doing right now that will haunt us more
in the future than our failure to provide for electronic storage and
retrieval of information for perpetuity.

You asked an interesting question and I hope that I haven't taken up too
much of your time.

Andrew Wohrley
Auburn University Libraries
Engineering Librarian
______________________________

>>> "T.P. Heide" <tph21@cus.cam.ac.uk> 02/03 8:09 PM >>>

Dear All,

A mention was made of the attempt to curtail fair uses and other
exceptions and limitations found under copyright law.

Do you have any specific examples of standard terms that you consider
particularly overreaching in the copyright sense?

yours,

Thom

********************************
* Thomas Heide                 *
* Marie Curie Research Fellow  *
* Intellectual Property Unit   *
* Cambridge University         *
* Faculty of Law               *
* Tel:+44 1223 33 00 81(Office)*
*     +44 1223 52 67 05(Home)  *
* Fax:+44 1223 33 00 55        *
* E-mail: tph21@cus.cam.ac.uk  *
********************************