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The Role of Scientific and Technical Data and Information in the Public Domain Proceedings of a Symposium (2003) / Chapter Skim
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13. Legal Pressures on the Public Domain: Licensing Practices
Pages 99-103

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From page 99...
... Licensing practices are indeed a significant pressure on the public domain; they have the potential to become the vehicle for restricting access to and use of public information that trumps other existing and proposed forms of protection, such as copyright and database protection. The term "licensing" in the context of electronic publishing means contracting for various activities involving the access and use of articles or the information in the articles.
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From page 100...
... For the remainder of this discussion, I will talk about the applicable legal principles and then will highlight some developments in scientific publishing that may indicate which way the wind is blowing. THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT The primary legal principle applicable to licensing provisions, or at least the starting point for any analysis, is "freedom of contract." Freedom of contract is not unlimited, however, and traditionally has been subject to limitations imposed by various other legal doctrines and policies, such as preemption by federal law (including copyright and patent law)
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From page 101...
... In 1999 the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws proposed a new uniform law, intended for consideration by state legislatures, that would generally validate shrinkwrap or clickwrap licenses. The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA)
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From page 102...
... A major function of journals is to vet scientific publications for quality; unless these "entrepreneurial" databases establish similar vetting systems, they are likely to be incomplete. 5see American Association for the Advancement of science (AAAS)
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From page 103...
... Other initiatives include the Public Library of Science, PubMed Central, and the Budapest Open Archives Initiative. A movement by life scientists to boycott journals unwilling to agree to this concept apparently has fizzled, but the movement to unrestricted access seems to be gaining momentum, with the decision of Science (the leading publication of the AAAS)
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Key Terms

  • database protection
  • copyright law
  • sequence data
  • preemption analysis
  • electronic publishing

  • scientific publishing
  • contract formation
  • public information
  • requires subscription
  • database providers

  • celera data
  • unrestricted access
  • freely available
  • online publishing
  • prohibiting commercial

  • underlying data
  • licensing practices
  • online access
  • licensing provisions
  • access online

  • formation issue
  • information transactions
  • publishing environment
  • paper copies
  • typically sold

  • issues available
  • laws proposed
  • allow unrestricted
  • limited amounts
  • principle applicable


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