Talked recently with a scholar who was planning to reproduce a number of his own articles in a small print run. He was pleased to hear from our national non-profit rights-clearance center that it was no problem, they’d absolutely be able to help him with all of this, and it would be a breeze for him! Yet somehow, when given the list of publications, even with much waiting, and nudging, and resending-of-the-list-of-publications… a response was not forthcoming.
Need permission to use this? SURE, we’d be HAPPY to get that for you! No problem! Reasonable price, too!
London defies ban on Xmas; entry from Oliver Cromwell state papers. No known © restrictions. From National Archives, UK
Could it – just possibly – be that it’s actually NOT always super-easy to contact some convenient clearinghouse and quickly and easily get permission to reuse works? Even when you are talking about your own works? Especially when your career spans more than 50 years of publishing, across several continents?
Could it be that copyright ownership is actually NOT that simple, and that a model of copyright that functions on the assumption that re-use should always require permission, because it’s always easy to get… well, could it be that that WOULDN’T ACTUALLY WORK VERY WELL A LOT OF THE TIME???? *cough* Georgia State *cough*
Maybe. But what do I know? It’s not like I see how this stuff causes problems on the ground in the real world or anything.
