Re: Developing impossible situation, Re: Authority to sign licenses

[Rick Anderson <rick_anderson@uncg.edu>]

> I am curious to know whether libraries find publishers notify them of
> changes in licensing terms since the contract for a particular product was
> signed. 

It seems to me that once terms are agreed to and signed, that version of
the terms is the legally binding one.  I wouldn't imagine that either
party can simply impose new terms unilaterally with any sort of
enforceable consequence.  How true that is in any given case is limited by
the language in the termination clause, I guess -- if the license expires
a year after signing, then I suppose you have to negotiate again at that
point.  But I can't imagine that the vendor has any legal right to simply
change the terms unilaterally, any more than the customer does.  Am I
mistaken about this?

----------------------
Rick Anderson
Head Acquisitions Librarian
Jackson Library
UNC Greensboro
1000 Spring Garden St.
Greensboro, NC 27402-6175
PH (336) 334-5281
FX (336) 334-5399
rick_anderson@uncg.edu
http://www.uncg.edu/~r_anders

"All beauty today is meretricious."
          -- Fredric Jameson

"But beauty is found in life far more 
than in art.  If we avert our eyes to
escape the seduction, what will our
eyes be good for?"
            -- David Bromwich