Trade unions may not strike over copyright, but I still have the bruises to prove that copyright can cause a furore. At UCL a few years ago I dared to suggest that UCL might own the copyright in some of the work of its academic staff. I was vilified internally, the AUT (as it was then) were up in arms, and I was pilloried in "Private Eye" for daring to make the suggestion. As you can tell I survived to tell the tale, and appearing in "Private Eye" did wonders for my image, but don't under-estimate the seething passions under the calm surface of copyright.
Fred Friend ----- Original Message ----- From: "j.f.rowl...@lboro.ac.uk" <j.f.rowl...@lboro.ac.uk> To: <american-scientist-open-access-fo...@listserver.sigmaxi.org> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 3:57 PM Subject: Re: Optimizing OA Self-Archiving Mandates 'the general fear of the employer about possible trade union action based on copyright issues relating to academic research' A fanciful argument. As Stevan often points out, scholarly papers - the subject of this forum - are not money-making propositions anyway. Campus trade unions and university managements have much more important issues to fight about. I can't imagine a strike about copyright! Fytton Rowland, Loughborough University, UK (President, Loughborough University branch of the Association of University Teachers, 1999-2003)
