[GOAL] CC-BY with copyright transfer - correction

[Couture Marc]

Hi all,

Greg Tananbaum, from SPARC, informed me that there has been a change in 2014 in the  “Copyrights” criteria of “How open is it”, which now stress authors’ rights/permissions more than copyright ownership.

The original, 2013 version I discussed is the one available on SPARC own website; Greg told me this will soon be fixed. The version available on PLOS website should be the right one, though: https://www.plos.org/files/HowOpenIsIt_English.pdf

The fact remains that the very notion of “author/publisher copyright ownership” should treated with much caution: as always, one must read the “small print”.

Marc Couture


De : goal-bounces at eprints.org [mailto:goal-bounces at eprints.org] De la part de Couture Marc
Envoyé : 24 mai 2016 08:50
À : Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)
Objet : Re: [GOAL] CC-BY with copyright transfer

Hi all,

I also agree that this is an important, but badly treated/understood issue.

For instance, in SPARC’s “How open is it” scale, author copyright ownership gives a minimum of 4 (over 5) for the “Copyrights” criterion, irrespective of possible restrictions that, as one sees, may amount in practice to no more rights than publisher ownership. Thus Elsevier’s exclusive licence gives them 4/5 for this criterion.

http://sparcopen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/hoii_guide_rev4_web.pdf

In 2012, in my response to SPARC’s Request for Comments on a preliminary version of this guide, I had stressed this exact problem, explaining that the real issue was author control over usage, not copyright ownership per se. I don’t know if I was the only one to do so, but nothing was changed in the final version. This is the kind of situation that makes me believe that the issue is all but well understood.

Marc Couture



De : goal-bounces at eprints.org<mailto:goal-bounces at eprints.org> [mailto:goal-bounces at eprints.org] De la part de Peter Murray-Rust
Envoyé : 24 mai 2016 04:38
À : Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)
Objet : Re: [GOAL] CC-BY with copyright transfer

I agree with Heather, this is unclear and needs checking. There is a difference between the author of a work and the owner. I would agree that it appears to be a deceptive practice. I have had similar problems "arguing" with Elsevier about text-and-datamining "licences" where the licences apparently give rights to Elsevier.

I will try to get an informal opinion.

On Fri, May 20, 2016 at 6:18 PM, Heather Morrison <Heather.Morrison at uottawa.ca<mailto:Heather.Morrison at uottawa.ca>> wrote:
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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--
Peter Murray-Rust
Reader in Molecular Informatics
Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
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