[open-science] Elsevier are telling "mis-truths" about the extent of paywalled open access

[Alexandre Hannud Abdo]

This has nothing to do with copyright law. It is contract law on the
service of providing open access that researchers paid for.

On Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 11:41 PM, Heather Morrison <
Heather.Morrison at uottawa.ca> wrote:

> CC-BY permits downstream use without restrictions except for attribution,
> including commercial use.
>
> While it is problematic to define precisely what constitutes "commercial
> use", with respect to copyrighted works the paradigmatic meaning is sales
> of the works per se.
>
> This is where copyrighted started, back with the Statute of Anne. Printers
> who had invested in preparing works for commercial sales objected to others
> making copies of their work and selling them.
>
> If one does not wish for works or rights to be sold, do not use a license
> that grants blanket downstream commercial rights.
>
> With respect to Elsevier, setting aside the ethics of the matter, they are
> on solid legal ground if they sell works that are licensed CC-BY. So is
> anyone else.
>
> best,
>
> Heather Morrison
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Peter Murray-Rust <pm286 at cam.ac.uk>
> Date: 2017-02-20 5:26 PM (GMT-05:00)
> To: Ross Mounce <ross.mounce at gmail.com>
> Cc: open-science <open-science at lists.okfn.org>
> Subject: Re: [open-science] Elsevier are telling "mis-truths" about the
> extent of paywalled open access
>
> I want to thank Ross for the hard work he has put in on this. I know how
> hard is it because I did much the same 4 years ago in exposing Elsevier
> failure to make Open Access articles visible, and to charge rights fees on
> CC BY articles. This led to their seemingly uncaring "bumpy road" dismissal
> of the seriousness of misselling.
>
> Nothing seems to have changed. Elsevier either cannot or doesn't care to
> put in place a system that works without error. Prices are so high that
> even a small error rate effectively deprives the world of significant
> amounts of money.
>
> It seems that the most of the University/Library/Funder world does not
> care enough to take effective action when sold unacceptable goods and
> services. I have consistently argued that until we have a regulator with
> legal teeth the waste of public money and knowledge will continue.
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 9:11 PM, Ross Mounce <ross.mounce at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> Remember last week I found an article that had been paid-for by the
>> Wellcome Trust to be hybrid open access, except it was for sale behind an
>> Elsevier paywall at the journal *Mitochondrion* for $35.95 + tax? [0]
>>
>> Well, Elsevier have responded, first by sowing doubt on the claim, then 3
>> days later admitting I was correct. But stranger still, they said:
>>
>> “We’ve gone through the system, this [the Mitochondrion article] is the
>> only article affected.”
>>
>> Which would be great if this were true but it isn't. There are more
>> paywalled "open access" articles that are currently on sale at
>> ScienceDirect right now, including one at The Lancet, which Wellcome Trust
>> paid Elsevier £5,280 to make open access [1]. Which makes me think:
>>
>> A) Elsevier’s entire system for handling hybrid open access is broken
>> B) Elsevier are evidently incapable of accurate self-assessment
>>
>> In 2014 they eventually refunded "about $70,000" to readers who had
>> mistakenly been charged to access articles that should have been open
>> access. I wonder how much they will pay out this time...?
>>
>> Please do share this with colleagues. I am outraged.
>>
>>
>>
>> Links:
>> [0] http://rossmounce.co.uk/2017/02/14/elsevier-selling-access-t
>> o-open-access-again/
>> [1] http://rossmounce.co.uk/2017/02/20/hybrid-open-access-is-unreliable/
>>
>> --
>> --
>> -/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
>> /-/-
>> Ross Mounce, PhD
>> Software Sustainability Institute Fellow 2016
>> Dept. of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge
>> www.rossmounce.co.uk <http://rossmounce.co.uk/>
>> -/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
>> /-/-
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Peter Murray-Rust
> Reader Emeritus in Molecular Informatics
> Unilever Centre, Dept. Of Chemistry
> University of Cambridge
> CB2 1EW, UK
> +44-1223-763069 <+44%201223%20763069>
>
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