Re[2]: Developing impossible situation, Re: Authority to sig

[mspinell@aaas.org (MSPINELL)]

Rick,

Surely you're right that one party cannot just unilaterally 
issue new terms. Otherwise, there'd be no point in striking 
agreements, would there?

However, I suppose an analogy is possible to what credit 
card companies do. Periodically, they'll issue a new set of 
rules or terms. As a credit card holder, I can choose to 
accept the new terms or reject them by terminating the 
agreement. That feels pretty unilateral to me, though I 
suppose technically, legally, it's not, since the card 
holder can't be bound by the new rules against his/her will.

Science Online has, over the last year, significantly 
liberalized its online agreement in favor of libraries and 
their users. The new terms are posted online, but we haven't 
gone back to those institutions who signed the earlier 
agreements to either 'force' or 'ask' them to sign the new 
agreement. That's because, in our case, we are willing to 
honor either version of the deal. Then, at renewal time, I 
would think the new terms would come into play...Does this 
strike you/others as sensible?

Mike Spinella

______________________________ Reply Separator _____________________
Subject: Re: Developing impossible situation, Re: Authority to sign l
Author:  Rick Anderson <rick_anderson@uncg.edu> at Internet
Date:    3/1/99 11:07 PM

> 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
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