I notice there’s not a specification that the derivative works are noncommercial. So basically the content could be used like the GPL and copyleft.

I will keep you informed.

With kind regards

Sarah

And Charlie, I agree, but I’ll also note that it’s unfortunately not uncommon. In my dissertation work, I’ve noticed in our disciplinary literature an eagerness to rhetorically construct economic inequality as an essentially unchangeable phenomenon, in order to get off the hook in terms of actually having to go out and make some change. Easier to bemoan the impossibility of change than to actually go out and work for possible change.

I sympathize with your position. Elsevier is facing a difficult future. Having said that I expect that your corporation will soon be facing a steady boycott. I’d suggest at this juncture that It may be in your organizations lont-term interests to recommend that your company be sold off from Reed.

While I think most will acknowledge that Article 51 makes ethical sense, the objections to Reed Exhibitions move beyond 51. Your parent company’s subsidiary has a recent and documented history of sending out formal invitations to countries whose standing military has horridus human rights records — specifically countries such as Angola, Nigeria, and Colombia and several others — all of which were formally invited to the 2003 DSEi by not the British Government, but Spearhead.

While I sympathize with you that your company shares no real operational connection to Reed Exhibitions, the profits that both companies generate are unfortunaely benefitting the same parent corporation. It’s unfortunate for all current Reed operations that your parent company has made conflicting sets of business decisions in its expansion of its two subsidiary companies: one in academic publishing, the other in arms exports. They may have to make a choice between these two industries in the not-too-distant future.

Isn’t it sad that TechRhet will vehemenently argue about global political issues that they can have little impact on but are unwilling to address a political issue where they can have direct influence?

Also, I applaud the changes to your intellectual property policy, but I want to point out some of the affordances of Creative Commons. You said, “Upon the few occasions that Elsevier has been asked to use a Creative Commons licence, Elsevier has been unable to confirm with the author exactly what it is that they wish to do that the below policy does not allow.” As I understand it, Elsevier’s policy doesn’t allow other people to make derivative works of articles published in Elsevier’s journals. Many people who advocate for Creative Commons and open access publishing believe that others should be permitted to create derivative works of academic articles. For example, I could write an article (”My Article”), and if it were CC-licensed to allow derivative works, Mike here could create an audio recording of it, thus increasing its accessibility, or he could build upon it to create a “My Article Version 2.0,” or he could even get creative and put on a production of “My Article, The Musical.” The last one isn’t likely, but the point is that others are free to build upon my content.

All this can be done while still specifying that the content must never be used for commercial purposes (except by Elsevier).

I’m curious: can you tell me how recent are the changes in intellectual property policy that you reference? More specifically, were those changes made subsequent to this discussion five months ago?

I must admit I’m also curious that you chose to respond here — at a weblog with a very small readership — rather than to the post at the much more widely-read Crooked Timber.

Thanks for the response.

Upon the few occasions that Elsevier has been asked to use a Creative Commons licence, Elsevier has been unable to confirm with the author exactly what it is that they wish to do that the below policy does not allow.

In particular, it might be useful to note bullet points 1-3. What our statement actually says is that you can distribute copies via email (bullet point 1) for personal use by colleagues. It also says that you can post the final version of your article (i.e. the *final* version of your article that you send to us to be typeset, updated if you so wish to reflect changes made by editing and peer review) to your personal or institutional website or server (bullet point 3).

Please find below a copy of the author rights statement, also available at: http://authors.elsevier.com

——————————————————

The following rights are retained and permitted by authors without the need to obtain specific permission from Elsevier:

· The right to make copies of the article for their own personal use, including for their own classroom teaching use.
· The right to make copies and distribute copies (including through e-mail) of the article to research colleagues, for the personal use by such colleagues (but not commercially or systematically, e.g., via an e-mail list or list serve).
· The right to post a preprint version of the article on Internet websites including electronic preprint servers, and to retain indefinitely such version on such servers or sites.
· The right to post a revised personal version of the text of the final article (to reflect changes made in the peer review and editing process) on the author’s personal or institutional website or server, with a link to the journal homepage (on http://www.elsevier.com).
· The right to present the article at a meeting or conference and to distribute copies of such paper or article to the delegates attending the meeting.
· For the author’s employer, if the article is a ‘work for hire’, made within the scope of the author’s employment, the right to use all or part of the information in (any version of) the article for other intra-company use (e.g., training).
· Patent and trademark rights and rights to any process or procedure described in the article.
· The right to include the article in full or in part in a thesis or dissertation (provided that this is not to be published commercially).
· The right to use the article or any part thereof in a printed compilation of works of the author, such as collected writings or lecture notes (subsequent to publication of the article in the journal).
· The right to prepare other derivative works, to extend the article into book-length form, or to otherwise re-use portions or excerpts in other works, with full acknowledgement of its original publication in the journal.

Kind regards

Sarah

Elsevier Ltd