Exploring copyright solutions to online‐sharing of scientific literature

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the effective mechanisms to balance the "sharing online" and the "copyright protection" of scientific literature in the digital environment, under the existing legal systems in China. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is through scrutinizing the legal provisions referring to fair-use, statutory licensing, collective administration of copyright, and information dissemination by a library or through a computer network in current laws of the People's Republic of China, as well as through examining the successful copyright solution in China. Findings -The paper concludes that statutory licensing plus common-use licensing is the proper and effective approach in the current situation, while collective management should be enhanced, and technological measures should be strengthened without prejudice to the public interest. Practical implications -The exploration of copyright solutions could raise law and policy debates, in order to realize scientific literature sharing online and facilitate scholarly communication in the digital age. Originality/value -The paper describes the possible legal room from scattered provisions of laws and regulations, lists the schemes for scientific information dissemination online in sequence, provides insight into noticeable licensing models and summarizes good experience, and discusses the technological measure issues while giving adaptive suggestions. It is, therefore, of use to scholars, librarians, and practitioners in the library and information field. The suggestions can help modify the copyright laws and the policies as further step.

Intellectual property law protection for energy-efficient innovation in Saudi Arabia

“…This type of compulsory licensing is not unique to Saudi Arabia. Article 31 of the TRIPS agreement allows such type of licensing for public interest, where the copyrighted work is not available, overpriced, or undersupplied Xianrong and Xiao [ [83] , [84] , [85] ]. For mandatory licensing to be effective, it is necessary to show that the author refused to make the copyrighted work available, the copies are not available locally with comparable prices, or the original work or its translation is out of stock.…”

An analysis of copyright protection in Saudi Arabia

“…Mandatory or compulsory licensing may also refer to statutory licensing, which connotes non-voluntary licensing (Xianrong and Xiao, 2010). In this regard, the users could exploit the copyrighted works without the permission of the author; but the users have to pay compensation to the author (Xianrong and Xiao, 2010).…”

“…Mandatory or compulsory licensing may also refer to statutory licensing, which connotes non-voluntary licensing (Xianrong and Xiao, 2010). In this regard, the users could exploit the copyrighted works without the permission of the author; but the users have to pay compensation to the author (Xianrong and Xiao, 2010). Compulsory licensing, as provided for in Article 31 of the TRIPS agreement has often been promoted as a policy tool to address public interest concerns ( Juma, 1999).…”