Re: "Double" Licenses

[morganj@iupui.edu]

I'm not a lawyer, but there are other examples of dual agreements.  My
institution allows me to apply for an institutional American Express card,
but I still have to come to a separate agreement with Amex to get the
card.  I presume the institution examines the agreement to see that they
have no liability, and also that the terms are not outrageous.  So the
Library might ask to see what their clients will be asked, and negotiate
reasonable conditions.

Jim Morgan
morganj@iupui.edu


On Wed, 20 Jan 1999, Ann Okerson wrote:

> Already this year I've seen two electronic information "deals" that
> require two levels of license.  That is, the institution (library)
> negotiates and signs a license with the provider AND then once the reader
> goes to the site to retrieve the information, he or she is asked to
> "click" to agree to a set of terms and conditions.  I.e., two license
> agreements are in play: one with the institution and one with each
> individual reader. Perhaps this has been happening to us all along, and
> I've only noticed this because of reading two such licenses within a few
> days.  The "click" is NOT the same as "dear reader, here you are and
> here are our working rules" -- rather, it is an attempt to create a
> legal agreement between the provider and the individual.
> 
> In each case, the terms are reasonable enough, but I question that the
> readers fully understand the kinds of liabilities that they are accepting
> by clicking.  And, as we have heard/discussed ad nauseum, "click" licenses
> are also problematic in that there is no possibility for the reader to
> query or negotiate with a form on the web.
> 
> In any case, it seems to me that the information provider's deal needs to
> be either with the INSTITUTION, who negotiates and accepts all the
> overarching responsibility for compliance with the license, OR with the
> READER, leaving the institution out of the relationship.  There is an
> incompatibility between asking for both.
> 
> Comments please from you publishers, librarians, and lawyers out there?
> 
> Ann Okerson
> Associate University Librarian
> Yale University
> Ann.Okerson@yale.edu