Hi all, I think most of this has been stated, but I did run this by one of our copyright experts, Matthew Kopel and he provided the information below which echoes much of what has been shared. Matthew asked me to make sure to mention that he’s a librarian and not a lawyer, and that this is information and not legal advice. For legal advice, he suggests you take the issue to your institution’s counsel.
““If the author placed a license on the work that does not prohibit commercial use (e.g. a CC-BY instead of a CC-BY-NC), anyone can grab it and sell it. Similarly, works deposited in HathiTrust or the Internet Archive that are in the public domain (and don’t have restrictions on the scans e.g. Google scans) are frequently repackaged and sold. In the scenario below, if the license applied by the author was not an open license allowing for commercial use, the rightsholder would have grounds to issue a DMCA takedown request. Whether the institution can do this on behalf of the author depends on the nature of the repository license.” Best, Erica Erica M. Johns Lead Librarian for the eCommons Institutional Repository Service Cornell University Library E: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> she | her Please note: I am sending this email at a time that is convenient for me. Read, reflect, and respond at a time that is convenient for you to foster a healthy life balance. Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York State, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters. From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Yvonne <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 7:48 PM To: Fitchett, Deborah <[email protected]> Cc: Paige Morgan <[email protected]>, DSpace Community <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [dspace-community] Copyright infringement on theses and dissertations Thank you Deborah, I was thinking this was the case, but hoping for more. As one of my colleagues put it, this is the flip side of open access. The first thing I did was leave a review on a nomadicindian item, saying it was freely available on the internet, and not to purchase it, and I also filed a complaint (as an agent) with Amazon. This seemed to be steps in the right direction, but not really addressing the root of the problem. Thanks again--I'm glad I reached out to ask. It was very interesting to find out ProQuest puts a clause in their agreement allowing commercial use, as well. Best wishes, Yvonne On Wed, May 3, 2023 at 5:42 PM Fitchett, Deborah <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Nothing can completely prevent it. Putting it behind a login or not digitising it at all would make it harder, but then it’s not so available to the general public at all which is counterproductive. Theoretically some kind of DRM might help but I don’t believe that’s a feature of DSpace. So it comes down to responding to it: lay a complaint with Amazon / whatever other sites are hosting the content. Any otherwise legitimate site should have a DMCA/other takedown process. How the student (as copyright holder) phrases the complaint will depend on what, if any, licence the item has: * No licence = All rights reserved: this is a straight-forward case where they’re breaching copyright by making copies at all. * A Creative Commons “Non-Commercial” licence: here they’d be allowed to make a copy but by selling it they’re breaching the licence * Another Creative Commons licence: they’re allowed to make a copy and are allowed to sell it – but they must still Attribute<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/> it correctly, which includes: * The author’s name * The original copyright notice and CC licence * A link to the original material They’re also not allowed to add any technological measures that restrict others from doing anything the licence permits. So if they’ve missed out any of that information, or if they or Amazon have added any DRM, then they’re still in breach of the licence. Deborah From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of Yvonne Sent: Thursday, 4 May 2023 5:59 am To: Paige Morgan <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Cc: DSpace Community <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: [dspace-community] Copyright infringement on theses and dissertations You don't often get email from [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> Caution: This email originated from outside our organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Thank you Paige, I don't think the institution uses ProQuest ETDAdmin, but this is very interesting! I appreciate your sharing. I'm thinking the use of CC licenses that do not allow commercial use is a step in the right direction, but that of course does not prevent people from doing this anyway. Best wishes, Yvonne On Wed, May 3, 2023 at 1:36 PM Paige Morgan <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi, Yvonne-- This is actually a fairly common thing to have happen, especially for institutions that use ProQuest ETDAdmin. ETDAdmin offers graduating students the choice between what they call "Traditional Publishing" and "Open Access Service." The Traditional Publishing option is free (except for the $50 they optionally charge to file copyright); the OA publishing is $90. ProQuest asks students to agree to the agreement I've pasted below in its entirety, which includes the following clause: ProQuest® Publishing Program - Election and Elements. The rights granted above shall be exercised according to the publishing option selected by Author on the previous Publishing Options screen, and subject to the following additional Publishing Program requirements: * Redistribution of the Work. Except as restricted by Author in the publishing option selected, the rights granted by Author automatically include (1) the right to allow sale and distribution of the Work, in whole or in part, by agents and distributors, and (2) the right to make the Abstract, bibliographic data and any meta data associated with the Work available to search engines and harvesters. Could this be what's happened in your situation? I know that a lot of students (and indeed, faculty members and advisors) aren't aware of it, and aren't in the habit of reading ProQuest's agreement carefully. Paige --------------------- Meeting/regular work hours: Monday - Thursday, 9am-5pm; limited email on Friday mornings. Dr. Paige C. Morgan (she/her/they) Digital Publishing and Copyright Librarian, Head of Digital Initiatives & Preservation University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press (on Lenape land<https://native-land.ca/maps/territories/lenape/>) Morris 118 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8076-7356 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> 302.831.7153 Make an appointment to meet with me: https://calendly.com/paigecm/ (Meetings available via Zoom, phone, etc.) ** I observe email-free evenings and weekends. ** Traditional Publishing Agreement This Agreement is between the author (Author) and ProQuest LLC, through its ProQuest® Dissertation Publishing business (ProQuest). Under this Agreement, Author grants ProQuest certain rights to preserve, archive and publish the dissertation or thesis, abstract, and index terms (the Work) provided by Author to ProQuest. Section I. License for Inclusion of the Work in ProQuest® Publishing Program. Grant of Rights. Author hereby grants to ProQuest the non-exclusive, worldwide right to reproduce, distribute, display and transmit the Work (in whole or in part) in such tangible and electronic formats as may be in existence now or developed in the future. Author further grants to ProQuest the right to include the abstract, bibliography and other metadata in the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (PQDT) and in ProQuest's Dissertation Abstracts International and any successor or related index and/or finding products or services. ProQuest® Publishing Program - Election and Elements. The rights granted above shall be exercised according to the publishing option selected by Author on the previous Publishing Options screen, and subject to the following additional Publishing Program requirements: * Redistribution of the Work. Except as restricted by Author in the publishing option selected, the rights granted by Author automatically include (1) the right to allow sale and distribution of the Work, in whole or in part, by agents and distributors, and (2) the right to make the Abstract, bibliographic data and any meta data associated with the Work available to search engines and harvesters. * Restrictions. ProQuest will use commercially reasonable efforts to restrict the distribution of the Work as provided under the publishing option selected by Author or as later elected by Author through direct contact with ProQuest. Such election is subject to Author's Degree Granting Institution Directives (see below). With respect to restrictions requested after submission of the Work, Author acknowledges that ProQuest cannot recall or amend previously distributed versions of the Work. Refer to Guide 4<https://about.proquest.com/go/etd_embargoesrestrictionsguide> for information about access and restrictions. * Removal of Work from the Program. ProQuest may elect not to distribute the Work if it believes that all necessary rights of third parties have not been secured. Refer to Guide 5<https://about.proquest.com/go/etd_copyright> for information about copyright and your dissertation or thesis. If Author's degree is rescinded, and the degree-granting institution so directs, ProQuest will expunge the Work from its publishing program in accordance with its then current publishing policies. * Degree Granting Institution Directives. Author is solely responsible for any conflict between policies and directions of Author's degree-granting institution, Author's choice of publishing model, and/or any restriction Author places on the use of the Work. For the avoidance of doubt, ProQuest is not responsible for access to the Work that is provided by Author's degree-granting institution through its library or institutional repository. Author must work directly with Author's degree granting institution to ensure application of any restrictions to access relating to the Work by Author's degree granting institution. Copyright and Deposit with the Library of Congress. At Author's option, as indicated in the Register U.S. Copyright screen of the online submission process, and upon payment of the applicable fee, ProQuest will submit an application for registration of Author's copyright in the Work in Author's name. In addition, regardless of whether copyright registration of the Work is sought, ProQuest may make a copy of the Work available to the Library of Congress in digital, microform or other format as required by the Library of Congress. Delivery of the Work. Author shall provide to ProQuest the Work and all necessary supporting documents during the online submission process, according to Guide 1: Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission.<https://about.proquest.com/go/etd_preparingyourmanuscriptguide> Rights Verification. Author represents and warrants that Author is the copyright holder of the Work and has obtained all necessary rights to permit ProQuest to reproduce and distribute third party materials contained in any part of the Work, including all necessary licenses for any non-public, third party software necessary to access, display, and run or print the Work. Author is solely responsible and will indemnify ProQuest for any third party claims related to the Work as submitted for publication. Section II. Rights pursuant to Traditional Publishing. Author's election of Traditional as the type of Publishing confirms Author's choice to have ProQuest publish the Work according to the Traditional Publishing option described below. Traditional Publishing. ProQuest may exercise the rights granted under Section I above including through the sale of individual copies of the Work in tangible or electronic media and/or as part of electronic database and reference products or services. Publishing Fees and Royalties. There is no publishing fee charged for dissertations and theses submitted through the ProQuest® ETD Administrator. Author's institution may assess additional fees. ProQuest will pay royalties of 10% of its net revenue from sales of the Work, conditioned on Author maintaining a current address on record with ProQuest. Royalties will be paid when accrued earned royalties reach $25.00 USD. If, after 25 years, earned royalties do not accrue to at least $25.00 USD, ProQuest's royalty payment obligation will cease. On Wed, May 3, 2023 at 12:08 PM Yvonne <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hello, I've been communicating with a librarian who runs a DSpace repository. She received a complaint from a student who found that their honors thesis has been posted for sale on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as a print-on-demand book. I visited this "publisher's" site on Amazon (named nomadicindian) and found many other theses and dissertations for sale. I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this. Specifically, what measures can be used in the DSpace environment to mitigate against illegal use of open access content? Has anyone out there encountered this problem, and how did you approach it? Many thanks, Yvonne Kester Repositories Manager SUNY Library Services -- All messages to this mailing list should adhere to the Code of Conduct: https://www.lyrasis.org/about/Pages/Code-of-Conduct.aspx --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DSpace Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. 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