Germany’s Shocking Court Ruling Strikes Down Open Access Mandate—What This Means for Academic Freedom and Research Worldwide
While SPR is styled as a “right,” it is actually a limitation on rights. Under copyright law, an author has the right to post her work, license her work non-exclusively, or license her work exclusively for defined purposes (note that German law differs from US law in that authors may never fully divest themselves of copyright. In practice, an exclusive license corresponds to a US law transfer of rights). SPR limits the last right. While one could argue that, given the economics of journal publishing (in which authors are typically not paid), SPR benefits the authors, it is worth analyzing this further. First, imagine that for any other content, the state limited your freedom to contract such that you could not safely grant exclusive rights. It would be hard to get a book published or film made under those circumstances. While many journal publishers allow some archiving of accepted manuscripts, SPR removes discretion and limits choice.
Post Comment