RE: Authors and publishers' rights

[Chris Zielinski <chris.zielinski@alcs.co.uk>]

In order to keep parochial debates off the list, I will reply separately
to Fred Friend regarding the UK side of his comments. In general, it is
strange to see my rather anodyne comments characterized as a "fierce
attack" - authors' representatives have not, to date, participated in the
NESLI process, but continue to be prepared to do so. 

Contrary to what Mr Friend says, many journals appear not to secure
photocopying and other secondary rights to publishers - far more than he
imagines. In a recent Publishers Licensing Society survey among the
publishers of some 13,000 journals, almost 60% of the journals covered
proved unable or unwilling to claim that they had the full rights to
photocopying related to their journals. Since photocopying is among the
benefits offered by the NESLI licence, it would therefore seem that a
potentially major category of rightsholders has been left out of the
discussions. 

If, as he says, "the vast majority of journal articles authors have
assigned rights to the publishers", this may be true for first publication
rights (and even there, many publishers are accepting that an *exclusive
licence* to publish serves the purpose as well as an outright *assignment*
or *transfer* of copyright - which authors are resisting) - but it is less
true of secondary uses such as photocopying, offprints, some electronic
spin-offs, and the like. 

Regarding Sally Morris's comments about the licence only covering current
work in electronic format, we should remember that the National Electronic
Site Licence Initiative provides a standard licence to: 

3.1.5  permit Members of the Licensee to print and/or download individual 
articles...
3.1.6  provide access to and permit copying from the Licensed Materials...
3.1.9  subject to the requirements of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 
1988, permit Electronic Delivery services to non-Members on a pay-per-use 
basis
3.1.10  permit the reproduction and inclusion of copies (hard copy or 
electronic form) of items from the Licensed Materials in course packs in 
print or digital form...

In April 1998, based on a "National Consultation on the Academic Author",
ALCS issued a Declaration on the Academic Author (available at
http://www.alcs.co.uk/DECLARATION.html ), in which the issue of control is
stressed: "The ability of authors to control the use of their copyright
material is the basis for any discussion of rights and remuneration.
Control is thus as important as remuneration for authorship." This is
precisely the point we are addressing here. We are all bound together in
the scholarly communication process - authors, publishers and the user
community - and we want to make it happen as efficiently and equitably as
possible. As Mr Friend says, everybody's needs should be acknowledged. But
consensus can only be achieved when everybody is involved. 

Chris Zielinski

Christopher Zielinski, Secretary General, Authors' Licensing and Collecting 
Society
Marlborough Court, 14-18 Holborn, London EC1N 2LE, UK
tel: 01713950600 - fax: 01713950660
http://www.alcs.co.uk email: chris.zielinski@alcs.co.uk