From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 11:13:34 -0500

Just to be clear, a nonexclusive license does not confer ownership of
any rights on the licensee but merely grants that licensee certain
privileges of use. That's why one who has a nonexclusive license has
no standing to sue for copyright infringement.

Sandy Thatcher


> From: Kevin Smith <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 11:59:20 +0000
>
> In my opinion, an institution can distribute articles that are
> deposited under a faculty open access policy using a Creative Commons
> license only if the license created by the policy either explicitly
> mentions a particular kind of CC license or is otherwise broad enough
> to encompass that form of distribution.  I tell people that a chain of
> licenses can only stay the same size or get smaller; the chain should
> never grow bigger than the links that went before.  This is part of
> the basic legal (and ethical) principle that you cannot sell -- or
> give away -- more than you own.  But the answer ultimately depends on
> the scope of the original license.
>
> Kevin L. Smith, M.L.S., J.D.
> Director, Copyright and Scholarly Communication
> Duke University Libraries
> Durham, NC  27708
> [log in to unmask]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Kunda, Sue" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 01:11:37 +0000
>
> After reading the discussions on this list (and reading Kevin Smith's
> blog posts) about the ownership of scholarly articles, I have an
> additional question regarding schools with Harvard-like OA policies.
>
> After the University receives the non-exclusive license from the
> faculty member can it (the University or the library on the
> University's behalf) assign a Creative Commons License to the article?
>
> Would that stipulation have to be specifically spelled out in the OA policy?
>
> Sue Kunda
> Digital Scholarship Librarian
> 121 The Valley Library
> Corvallis, OR  97331
> [log in to unmask]