Re: History of licensing

["Anthony Watkinson" <anthony.watkinson@btinternet.com>]

I do know that the early licenses for academic CD-ROMs e.g. The Dictionary
of Organic Compounds were huge and unrealistic. I recall a licence of about
thirty pages in the early 90s. There was also massive security on this
particular CD-R which made it almost impossible to use!

Anthony Watkinson
14, Park Street,
Bladon
Woodstock
Oxfordshire
England OX20 1RW
phone +44 1993 811561 and fax +44 1993  810067


----- Original Message -----
From: Nick Smith <NSMITH@nla.gov.au>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 10:32 PM
Subject: History of licensing


> Hi  (This is my first post to this list):
>
> I'm interested to find out if anyone has any information on the history of
> licensing electronic resources. (I've had a look through the archives but
> can't find anything on this.)
>
> I understand that packaged computer programs were the first to be
> accompanied by licences. Although paper books could just as easily be
> shrinkwrapped as software, they were not for the following reasons: (1)
> software publishers have a (reasonably justified) fear of digital piracy
> that does not exist with paper materials; (2) computer programs *require*
> a license of some kind (they must be reproduced on the users hard drive
> whereas the ordinary use of a book does not involve copyright); (3)
> consumers would have reacted in horror to shrink-wrap licensed books
> whereas the new market for computer software was not 'burdened' by these
> expectations.
>
> When did licence agreements start to migrate from operating systems and
> applications to content resources? Who led the way here and why? (I guess
> the desire to maintain a greater level of control is a prominent reason).
>
> Thanks
>
> Nick
>
> =========================================================
> Nick Smith
> Executive Officer  ::  Australian Digital Alliance
> Copyright Advisor  ::  Australian Libraries Copyright Committee
> PO Box E202   \\   Kingston ACT 2604
> Ph: 02 6262 1273   \\   Fax: 02 6273 2545
> Email: nsmith@nla.gov.au   \\   Web: www.digital.org.au
> =========================================================