[GOAL] CC-BY with copyright transfer

[Heather Morrison]

Elsevier's copyright page provides a very clear example of copyright transfer combined with CC licenses. Elsevier is not alone in this practice; I see this quite frequently while looking for APCS.

The Elsevier copyright page:
https://www.elsevier.com/about/company-information/policies/copyright

States under "for open access articles":
"Authors sign an exclusive license agreement, where authors have copyright but license exclusive rights in the article to the publisher. In this case authors have the right to share their articles in the same ways permitted to third parties..."

This language makes it very clear that when Elsevier applies CC licenses, Elsevier (or one of its partners)  is the Licensor or copyright holder, even when there is a copyright statement indicating the author holds copyright.

I argue that this is a deceptive practice that I call author nomination copyright.

This is important,  because CC licenses place obligations downstream for licensees, not Licensor. The copyright holder of a CC license has no obligation to continue to provide a copy of the work under the same terms in perpetuity (unless there is a separate contract).

To assess the extent of this practice one must examine journal/author contracts, not just visible indications, because even if an author is licensed CC-BY and indicates the author as copyright holder, it may actually be the publisher who owns all the rights under copyright.

best,

Heather Morrison



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