Re: copyright expiration as a spur to creativity

Let's cut to the chase in this long thread. Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com>, in response to a long comment by Karsten Self <kmself[_at_]ix.netcom.com> , said (in part):

> Copyright... is the linchpin that secures investments in reproduction
> rights and promotes dissemination. When such investments are clouded by
> instability, there is bound to be trouble."

I would suggest that there is a distinct difference between *journal* publication in the humanities, social sciences and sciences than there is in other areas of periodical publication -- I mean theat scholars and researchers would like the widest possible dissemination of their papers and couldn't care the least about other folks copying them. In fact they are happy to have this happen! But the distribution system for STM&S (scientific, technical, medical & scholarly) journals has become more and more limited to fewer and fewer commercial publishers (at least in the STM fields).

So why not simply move away from paper dissemination and use the internet - with the same checks and balances of peer review, etc.? Indeed this has already started to happen and will continue apace. Some fields of study are more advanced (eg. mathematics) than others, but the increases in cost of paper journals -- WHATEVER the cause -- together with restrictions on library aquisition increases (here I do agree with Mr. Henderson) has resulted in a real crisis. Mr. Henderson has already agreed that photocopying "in house" (ie. inside the libraries) is not what he sees as the base culprit -- it's the Interlibrary Loan photocopying that he earmarks as no.1 bad activity w.r.t. the photocopy machine.

Well, I suggest that paper publishing will go the way of the dodo well before copyright law drops all the "free" copying that comes with fair use (or fair dealing in jurisdictions other than the U.S. - in those countries whose copyright law derives from that of the U.K., that is). As Karsten Self indicated, scholars really do not need the commercial publishers who have been cranking up the costs (again, for whatever reasons). The *authors* of the STM&S papers WANT the dissemination to be as widespread and freely available as possible.

Would Mr. Henderson agree that for these authors' works there is every reason to move away from paper and get into e-publishing with very free and open use of the texts, once they are refereed? Shouldn't the desire of these authors for this type of dissemination be honoured?

Cheers,

Bernard Katz, Head, Special Collections and Library Development McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph, Guelph ON Canada N1G 2W1

   and Chair, Ontario Library Association Copyright Action Committee bkatz[_at_]uoguelph.ca // (519) 824-4120 X2089 // FAX: (519) 824-6931 Received on Mon Sep 28 1998 - 01:35:39 GMT