Re: Electronic publishing

From
Date

Mark Purnell <map2@leicester.ac.uk> writes:

>I have recently been corresponding with Elsevier about ...
>incorporating information from [my own] published paper into
>a web document in much the same way that information would
>be incorperated into a review paper. ...

Mark,

Whether the source paper belongs to you or not, the doctrine
of fair use allows you to extract information (which cannot be
copyrighed) for criticism, commentary, and review.  Hence, it
would not violate copyright.  And if you ask your publisher as
a matter of courtesy for permission to do so, and they try to
intimidate you, then consider dealing with another publisher.

It may be worthwhile to consult with a lawyer who specializes
in intellectual property and copyright law.  Also, you can get
some free (!) pointers to relevant legal opinion in Usenet via
misc.legal.moderated.


> it seems that the big boys with a clear vested interest in
> printed paper are already one step ahead!

Publishers have no vested interest in paper.  It is expensive. 
Their vested interest is in controlling the flow of income, by
controlling the medium of publication.  At biology conferences
in the US over the past year, every major commercial publisher
seems to be showing off electronic versions of their journals.
Many professional societies are moving in this direction also.

	Una Smith			una.smith@yale.edu

Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT  06520-8104