RE: Response from Ted Bergstrom to Ann Okerson

["John McDonald" <jmcdonald@library.caltech.edu>]

"You should not discuss pricing on any listserve, on any subject. If you
doubt me, ask your attorney."

Peter,

Please elaborate and if possible cite the appropriate statutes and case
law. Unless bound by a confidentiality agreement, why would discussion of
pricing be illegal?

I can negotiate a salary, a home purchase, an airline ticket, or whatever
I want and discuss those details with whomever I want whenever I want.  A
concrete example is the UC-Elsevier ScienceDirect contract, where all
details of the pricing and contract are available publically:
http://www.econ.ucsb.edu/%7Etedb/Journals/ucelsevier.pdf

I actually find it incredible that you think any moderator would be
liable for anything discussed on a listserv.

John McDonald
Acquisitions Librarian
California Institute of Technology

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Peter Banks
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 6:36 PM
To: Karl.Bridges@uvm.edu
Subject: Re: Response from Ted Bergstrom to Ann Okerson

Please don't make this into a publisher conspiracy.

I was making the point for the sake of participants in this list
serve--and Ann especially, whose neck is on the line. You should not
discuss pricing on any listserve, on any subject. If you doubt me, ask
your attorney.

What happens in private conversations at meetings is your business. 

Peter Banks
Acting Vice President for Publications/Publisher
American Diabetes Association
Email: pbanks@diabetes.org

>>> Karl Bridges <Karl.Bridges@uvm.edu> 11/10/05 5:18 AM >>>

I guess this leads to my next question. If it's a problem to discuss this
in a listserv why are people doing it at conferences and why, if that
happened, did not the publishers in the room complain about it?