Monday, August 06, 2007
having a bit of a dispute with a customer:
The licensing of the material from ProQuest is still at issue. I do not believe we can display them as has been done in the past, and certainly not as proposed for the future.
"... Downloading of all or parts of the Products in a systematic or regular manner so as to create a collection of materials comprising all or part of the Products is strictly prohibited whether or not such collection is in electronic or print form. ..."
(1)(f): (providing remote access)
"If your subscription allows you to provide remote access to the Products, you will limit access to the Products to Authorized Users ... The term “Authorized User” means: (1) For public libraries: library staff, individual residents of a reasonably defined geographic area in addition to walk-in patrons while on-site; (2) For schools and academic institutions: currently enrolled students, faculty and staff in addition to walk-in patrons and visiting scholars while on-site; and (3) For other types of organizations: employees, independent contractors and other temporary workers while performing duties within the scope of their employment or assignment."
Note that (1)(c): (non profits) does not offer relief from these restrictions:
"Notwithstanding the previous paragraph, if you represent a public library, educational institution, governmental agency or non-profit institution allowing public access to data and information, then, subject to any special restrictions of the copyright owner, you may provide public access to and retrieval of data and information through the Products by or for walk-in public users while on-site. You will limit such use to the customary services provided to patrons and you will not re-distribute the materials retrieved from the Products or provide access to the Products to other libraries or third parties either directly or indirectly, unless specifically authorized by ProQuest."
We would need a specific agreement with ProQuest to do what we are proposing to do, and I doubt that will happen, or that it would be useful in any case, to wit:
(6) Linking. Subject to Publisher Restrictions, you may link to search results or materials contained in the Products licensed to you. The security embedded in these links is your responsibility and only on-site users and/or Authorized Users are permitted access to the Products or the materials contained therein consistent with Sections 1(b) and 1(f) of this agreement. With respect to any original materials and third party materials that may be presented in conjunction with links into the Products, you represent that you have all rights necessary to use these third party materials.
And that's just for linking. Etc.
I think we should close the issue of using ProQuest material and put our collective energies into finding other sources appropriate for our intended use, either third-party or internal. Meanwhile, I will suspend access to this material on the new website prior to the launch date.
well, ok, i'm no lawyer, but i _did_ spend nine years interpreting employee benefit plan documents and numerous sections of the related federal tax code, regulations, etc., and this stuff is trivial by comparison. I'm just trying to remain uninvolved with anything with the potential to lead to civil or criminal courts.
this issue was first raised 2007.04.09.