LEGAL ISSUES FOR INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES : AN OVERVIEW

Frederick J. FriendJISC Scholarly Communication Consultant

Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCLf.friend@ucl.ac.uk

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Does the repository have a business plan, including contingency planning if funding is withdrawn?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 CONTENT-OWNERS

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