Re: copyright protection paper

["Sally Morris" <sec-gen@alpsp.org>]

I don't see that publishers have no right to collect payment for articles
they have published, irrespective of their copyright status.  As Ann
Okerson points out, they have done work and expended money on all the
processes leading to publication - if they didn't get paid for this, how
would they continue to perform that function?

And I don't think the issue is really whether or not the reader knows that
the work is in the public domain (in the USA, at least - I agree with
comments that the same works may not in fact be public domain for users in
other countries).  The author knows - or should know - and, to me, the
question is whether they (or their employer) actually do anything about
it. Are Govt works habitually openly deposited anywhere?  Not that I know
of

Sally Morris, Secretary-General
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
South House, The Street, Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK

Phone:  01903 871686 Fax:  01903 871457 E-mail:  sec-gen@alpsp.org
ALPSP Website  http://www.alpsp.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 7:31 PM
Subject: RE: copyright protection paper

> Part of the issue is govt. employee authored papers are generally
> "incognito" i.e. there is NO way to tell in a journal that the publisher
> doesn't hold the copyright. Every few years I check to see if you can tell
> from the article if it is government employee only produced, and what the
> publisher notes on copyright. Normally the publishers' insert their own
> copyright notice and that's about all. If you don't know, you don't know.
>
> My guess is that CCC etc.  has collected lots of dollars for material
> publishers didn't own the right to demand payment for. NO ILL system, for
> example, indicates whether an item is fee or not based on who the authors
> are, we just assume from the journal title.
>
> So I don't see that Sally's point means much as a "challenge" if its free
> or restricted, but the publisher doesn't tell you which is which and mix
> it in with what is publisher owned--How could an individual or instituion
> possibly know their use rights are different.
>
> We probably need some other way to know what is NOT under copyright. A
> standard note on journal articles? ( since the right is obscured right
> now)
>
> How much money does the publishing industry owe back to libraries for
> unlawfully collecting copright fees on government owned materials??
>
> That should make an interesting court case, since the big publishers I've
> talked to do not track on an article basis what they are collecting in
> copyright fees for journal articles.
>
> Chuck Hamaker