1. Copyright exceptions:
Perspective of a researcher-led publisher
Brian Hole
Centre for European Policy Studies – December 13th 2012
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

2. 1. Background to UP
2. Research
3. Text and data mining
4. Teaching
5. General points
6. Harmonization
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

3. Ubiquity Press
Not a typical publisher
• Founded and run by researchers, for researchers
• Broad base including humanities and social sciences
• Fully open access
• Strongly encourage open data and software publishing
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

4. The Social Contract
of Science
• Research requires an
open, effective and
efficient distribution
model
• I.e. open access, open
data, non-restrictive
copyright
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

5. Research
The ideal situation:
• Copyright of publicly-funded research should ideally not
be transferred to private interests, such as publishers
• Copyright should be retained by the producers of the work
• Research should be released under open licences
permitting all forms of reuse (e.g. Creative Commons)
For other cases:
• A fair dealing exception is required that allows academics
(and the public) to use material for private study, criticism
and review
• Restricting the above prevents open and effective research
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

6. Text and data mining
[the benefits of text mining include]: “increased researcher efficiency;
unlocking hidden information and developing new knowledge; exploring
new horizons; improved research and evidence base; and improving the
search process and quality. Broader economic and societal benefits
include cost savings and productivity gains, innovative new service
development, new business models and new medical treatments.”
JISC
“The downstream value of high quality, high throughput chemical
information extracted from the literature can be measured against
conventional abstraction services… with a combined annual turnover of
perhaps $500-1,000 million dollars. We believe our tools are capable of
building the next and better generation of services.”
Peter Murray-Rust
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

7. Text and data mining
The ideal situation:
• Open access and open data (with CC-By and CC0 licenses)
mean that all research text and data are available for
mining, reuse and analysis
• But many established publishers want to forbid, restrict, or
control this
For other cases:
• A fair dealing exception is required that allows for
academic (and arguably other, e.g. commercial) mining of
both text and data
• It is important that this not only apply to text – data is
extremely important as well
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

8. Teaching
The ideal situation:
• All research outputs should be open access and available
for reuse in teaching, both in research institutions and
more broadly
• Once again established publishers want to prevent this
For other cases:
• The EC recommendation should be strengthened to
require a fair dealing exception that allows for copyright
material to be freely used in teaching
• A fair dealing exception for examinations is also required so
that copyright material included in exams can be made
available afterwards for others to study and practice with
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

9. General points
• Non-commercial restrictions on exceptions for research
outputs are not in the public interest and stifle innovation
• It needs to be made clear as to whether facts are or are
not copyrightable – some academics have been
threatened with legal action by publishers
• The EU Database Directive is potentially restrictive and
should be reviewed
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

10. Harmonization
• Modern research projects operate with large international
teams, based in multiple countries
• Copyright exceptions are currently not harmonized across
Europe, so researchers have to deal with a different set of
exceptions in each country
• An effort should therefore be made to achieve
harmonization of exceptions
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

11. Questions?
Thanks to Paul Ayris (UCL) and Peter Murray-Rust (OKFN) for their input
Links
http://www.ubiquitypress.com
http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2012/03/21/my-response-to-hargreaves-on-copyright-
reform-i-request-the-removal-of-contractual-restrictions-and-independent-oversight
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/value-and-benefits-of-text-
mining.aspx
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress