Download legal issues for institutional repositories : an overview

LEGAL ISSUES FOR INSTITUTIONAL
REPOSITORIES : AN OVERVIEW
Frederick J. Friend
JISC Scholarly Communication Consultant
Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL
[email protected]
LEGAL RELATIONSHIPS
 Institutional repository managers cannot escape the law!
 The secret is to treat the law as a friend to be embraced rather than
as an enemy to be kept at a distance
 Good legal relationships can make life easier and avoid problems
down the road
 Repositories need to have legal relationships with every
stakeholder: the university, each depositing author, third-party
content owners, and users of content
 Most legal issues are also policy issues for repositories
 Get the policies right and the legal framework will fall into place
LEGAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY
 Where does the repository sit within the university structure? Does it
sit within the library or is it a free-standing organization?
 Is there a clear management structure so that decisions can be
“owned” (and not disowned) by the university?
 Is the repository covered by the university insurance policy against
claims, e.g. a claim by a publisher for infringement of copyright?
 If some repository funding comes from a third party – e.g. JISC – do
the financial structures allow for accountability to a third party?
 Does the repository have a business plan, including contingency
planning if funding is withdrawn?
 None of these points need present a problem if they are clear from
the start and the repository is embedded into university structures
and policies
LEGAL RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH DEPOSITING
AUTHOR
 Each author is important (it only takes one well-known author to
claim that her/his work has been “stolen” by a repository for the
repository’s reputation to suffer)
 If there is a university policy mandating repository deposit this lifts
some of the responsibility from the repository manager
 Each repository should have its own “conditions of deposit”
document covering issues such as copyright on third-party content
(N.B. this should not be worded so as to scare authors off from
depositing)
 As this is a two-way relationship repository managers also have a
responsibility to authors – e.g. to provide download statistics on
demand or as a regular service
 A sound legal relationship with authors depends on sound policies
set by the university and by the repository
LEGAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THIRD PARTY CONTENTOWNERS
 If third party is a publisher, has the publisher agreed to repository
deposit, either of the entire content or of part of the content of which
the publisher holds the copyright? RoMEO will help but will not
cover every eventuality.
 The third party could be an individual, such as a photographer
whose work is included in the content deposited
 The third party could be an agency, such as the Ordnance Survey
 Sensible caution is advisable but no need to be over-cautious
 Good defence to be able to say that copyright policies and
procedures (e.g. take-down arrangements) are in place
 Having policies in place can take some of the hassle out of copyright
management
LEGAL RELATIONSHIP WITH USERS OF CONTENT
 Most users will not be aware of legal niceties such as the right to
copy content, and some may not even care
 Repository managers have a responsibility to make users aware of
legal restrictions upon use but need to do so in simple, brief
statements rather than complex contractual documents
 Creative Commons licences are user-friendly
 Persuading authors to use the JISC/SURF Licence to Publish (or
equivalent) will make those same individuals more aware of
copyright issues as users of content
 Having a good university copyright policy and publicising it will help
to raise users’ awareness of legal issues in using repository content
 Good policies make life easier for users of repository content