Re: Developing impossible situation, Re: Authority to sign licenses

[Edward Barrow <edward@plato32.demon.co.uk>]

Donna Packer wrote:

> This led me to generalize that publishers have started this licensing
> business, with its expensive administrative overhead for both sides, 

I don't think you can blame publishers entirely. Licensing of one form or
another is essential for any copyright material supplied in digital form,
because your institution has to be licensed to copy the material from the
medium it was supplied on (whether it be tape, CD-ROM, or the publisher's
on-line server) onto the caches, RAM etc of the terminals where it will
actually be read.

If the licence isn't an express one, there might still be an implied
licence - if I send you a disk, my actions probably imply that I have
licensed you to make the copies necessary to read it - but it's better to
have a contract in which the terms are written down. I think it would be
very unwise to assume that an implied licence would be any more favourable
to the library than an express one.


Edward Barrow
edward@plato32.demon.co.uk