Scholarly Publication and Copyright in Network Electronic Publishing

by Gasaway, Laura N. Director of the Law Library and Professor of Law at the University of North California at Chapel Hill

The publication of scholarly works in a networked electronic environment presents many opportunities for solving some of the problems currently exist in the print world. At the same time, copyright law, a form of legal protection developed primarily for printed works, has been used to create stumbling blocks both for faculty authors and their institutions. This has occured because publisher as a quid pro quo for getting the work published. New models of copyright ownership and management can be developed for electronic publishing of scholarly works and research results that will greater control to the faculty author, ease to the distribution and permissions process for the use of copyright works in teaching and research, and ultimately will reduced costs to universities which currently must repurchase faculty-produced from commercial publishers.