Re: IP law and society (was "protecting inventions")

On Wed, 18 Jun 1997, Bert Boyce <lsboyc[_at_]lsuvm.sncc.lsu.edu> wrote:
>
> On 6/17/97, Dan Agin <specpress[_at_]earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> > So much for the opinion expressed by some here that present IP law is
> > not only innocuous but necessary for scientific progress and desired
> > by the science community. Balderdash.
>
> Hear, Hear!!
>
> The prices of learned journals, which are a direct result of
> corporate publisher's insistance on copyright transfer for publication
> (without any compensation to the author or the author's employer) are
> undermining the process of scientific communication.

Well, I happen to think the IP aspect cuts both ways--irrelevant in academic settings and some businesses, very important in others.

However, journals cost a lot partly because they have a restricted audience to spread out printing and other costs over. This gets worse when you look at the increasing number of journals, so that each journal cuts a bit into the audience for related other ones, but the overhead doesn't go down. Therefore, the price goes up and you get a rather vicious circle going.

And, this would be true regardless of the copyright assignment policies.

Harold Federow
<hfederow[_at_]u.washington.edu> Received on Thu Jun 19 1997 - 23:46:30 GMT