[Taxacom] Responses from BHL about Nabu Press, etc.

Thu Mar 29 17:05:59 CDT 2012

The problem is that this opens a potential can of worms. Most of us
give up some or all publishing rights, in one way or another,  when we
publish. If Nabu can do this, there is really nothing stopping each
individual author from doing the exact same thing, when we were
previously fine with having BHL host the information for free. The
whole thing amounts to bad policy that can degrade down into
situations which damage science. Rather, let's respect BHL, respect
our publishers, and respect our authors. We're all in this together,
after all. As for being heavy-handed or mistaken, a cease-and-desist
order is not harsh at all.

Roger

On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 5:44 PM, Stephen Thorpe
<stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
> interesting, though seemingly a little heavy-handed? Clearly BHL want people to go to BHL, rather than to Nabu, to access the publications, so I suspect that they may try to scare Nabu "off their patch", independently of whether there is any solid legal basis to do so ...
> I still just can't see how you can allow *anyone* free access to something while still retaining copyright control??? Surely, either you restrict access, or you relinquish copyright control?? I can't see the sense in having it both ways!  The absurdity arises because the original author/publisher of the works are not being adversely impacted by Nabu's activities, so why are they complaining? Do they just not like the idea of someone else profiting from their work? But don't we all profit, directly or indirectly, from the good ideas/inventions of the past??  BHL have more of a reason to complain, but why is Doug so motivated to alert BHL to this fact? Still, it isn't my problem ...
>
> Stephen
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Doug Yanega <dyanega at ucr.edu>
> To: TAXACOM at MAILMAN.NHM.KU.EDU
> Cc: ECN-L at listserv.unl.edu; entomo-l at listserv.uoguelph.ca
> Sent: Friday, 30 March 2012 10:21 AM
> Subject: [Taxacom] Responses from BHL about Nabu Press, etc.
>
> Just so people are updated, I heard back from 2 people at BHL, which
> appears to be one of the major sources Nabu and the other POD
> publishers are using as sources for copyrighted documents. They have
> agreed to let me distribute their responses:
>
>>From: "Crowley, Bianca" <CrowleyB at si.edu>
>>To: "dyanega at ucr.edu" <dyanega at ucr.edu>
>>Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:44:22 -0400
>>Subject: Biodiversity Heritage Library Feedback
>>
>>Dear Dr. Yanega,
>>
>>Thank you for bringing this very serious issue to our attention. I
>>apologize for the concern that this is causing you and your
>>colleagues. Please know that the BHL is as equally concerned and we
>>are in the process of issuing a cease infringement request of Nabu
>>Press through our lawyers with the Smithsonian Institution. As I get
>>further information, I will be in touch with you. Please do not
>>hesitate to contact me if you gather any additional information.
>>
>>Sincerely,
>>Bianca Crowley
>>
>>Biodiversity Heritage Library Collections Coordinator
>>Smithsonian Institution Libraries
>>10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW
>>Rm 2221 P.O. Box 37012 MRC 154
>>Washington, DC 20013-7012
>>202-633-2239 | crowleyb[at]si.edu | http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org
>
>>From: "Kalfatovic, Martin" <KalfatovicM at si.edu>
>>To: "'dyanega at ucr.edu'" <dyanega at ucr.edu>
>>CC: "Crowley, Bianca" <CrowleyB at si.edu>
>>Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:07:42 -0400
>>Subject: Copyright infringement by print on demand publishers
>>
>>Dr. Yanega, Bianca Crowley will also be contacting you - if she
>>hasn't already - but I personally wanted to let you know we're
>>taking immediate action.
>>
>>-        We're reviewing all metadata to be certain there are no
>>extraneous codes that might be allowing these publishers to believe
>>these materials are rights free;
>>-        We've directed our Smithsonian Office of General Counsel to
>>issue a cease and desist order as well as a takedown order to the
>>"publishers";
>>-        Smithsonian Counsel is also working with staff at Amazon to
>>have these titles removed from Amazon ASAP (we've had a similar
>>problem with some Smithsonian publications and have a direct
>>connection to Amazon for this purpose)
>>
>>We'll continue to monitor the situation and try to ensure that this
>>does not happen again.
>>
>>Cordially,
>>Martin Kalfatovic
>>
>>Associate Director, Digital Services Division | Program Director,
>>Biodiversity Heritage Library
>>Smithsonian Institution Libraries
>>10th Street & Constitution Ave., NW
>>Room 24 Mz
>>MRC 154 PO Box 37012
>>Washington, DC 20013-7012
>>email: <mailto:kalfatovicm at si.edu>kalfatovicm at si.edu
>>tel: 202.633.1705
>
> As an additional follow-up, it appears that there may indeed be
> problems with the metadata - so there is a very real possibility that
> this is a systemic problem, leading the POD publishers to NOT be
> aware that these are copyrighted works. That is, they may have been
> re-publishing copyrighted material without realizing it, because they
> were trusting the metadata and not actually examining each file to
> make sure the metadata were accurate. I would not say, however, that
> this should let them off the hook. I know at least a few of you have
> contacted Amazon (and, evidently, gotten polite but
> less-than-exemplary responses like I did, along the lines of "We'll
> remove items from the sale listing one at a time if we receive what
> looks like a legitimate complaint from an author or copyright
> holder"). I wrote back and told them that this is little more than
> playing "Whack-a-mole", and they need a policy that blacklists POD
> sellers guilty of even ONE case of copyright infringement. We need to
> exert pressure. Again, if you have not checked Amazon for POD
> versions of your works, or if you have found some but not alerted the
> copyright holder, I urge you to do so.
>
> Sincerely,
> --
>
> Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology        Entomology Research Museum
> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
> phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
>               http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
>   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
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