In rebuttal, intellectual property expert Michael Carroll stressed that the NIH proposed policy is "completely consistent with the scope of NIH's license and mission," and labeled the APS analysis a "fatally flawed house of cards."
Serving as adviser to the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, Carroll is an expert on intellectual property and Internet law, and teaches on the law faculty at Villanova University School of Law.
According to Professor Carroll, "The publishers acknowledge that NIH has always had license to reproduce, publish and archive the research results that it has paid for. It is explicit; there is no question about that."
"Their analysis is built on the false premise that NIH is making a change to copyright law. The fact is, in all cases, NIH grantees must give NIH a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license for the Federal government to 'reproduce, publish, or otherwise use' the material and to authorize others to do so for Federal purpose. Nothing in this proposal alters the terms of NIH's license and consequently, copyright law is not an obstacle for the NIH to move forward. Most of the APS counsel's other arguments rely on this misunderstanding of copyright law, and therefore, are inapplicable."
"Nothing could be more consistent with the federal purpose of NIH than collecting this research in an archive and allowing taxpayers and follow-on researchers to have access to the fruits of their NIH investment."
Rick Johnson, director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition added, "These 1
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Contact: Glynnis Breen
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202-887-0500
Witeck Combs
19-Nov-2004