- The document discusses the challenges of providing partner access to licensed resources through Chest licenses. It notes that publishers may have restrictions on rights in certain territories or sales organizations that make extensions difficult. Chest licenses only apply to the specified licensee, so adding extra users through partners could require an additional fee. While negotiations are needed on a case by case basis, partners should not assume they are entitled to access and publishers have legitimate financial interests to consider.

1. www.eduserv.org.uk
simplified licensing for
partner access?
Martyn Jansen, Eduserv

2. our survey said …
• licensing partners is a frequent issue
• an extra fee is required
• publishers generally amenable but suspicious of
- alumni
- commercial partners
- large partners

3. licensing/fee response
• most thought that fee per head wouldn’t work
• some support for banding
• some support for flat fee
• some support for no fee

4. fee per head banding
flat fee no fee

5. take-aways
• don’t assume partners are entitled to access
www.chest.ac.uk/~/media/Eduserv%20areas/LNS/information/PartnershipsAdviceForSeniorManagers.pdf
• do assume you’ll have to pay something extra
• consider whether the partner should take out its own licence
• use the Chest licence extension where possible
• use the Chest and JISC decision maker tools to build a
persuasive case and share
http://www.chest.ac.uk/Chest-Agreements/about-our-licences/online-resources/DecisionMaker
• no one size fits all so be prepared to negotiate on a case by
case basis

6. thank-you
martyn.jansen@eduserv.org.uk

7. Why partner access to Chest licences can be difficult
Publisher has restricted rights
- the publisher may not be entitled to sell in the partner territory – his own rights might preclude the territory or he
may have exclusively assigned the territory to an agent. Equally, to avoid reputational damage, a publisher may not
wish to sell into a territory where he does not have an adequate support organisation.
Publisher’s sales organisation
- the way an publisher is organised may mean it’s difficult for the UK licence to be extended to the partner territory. For
example the salesman (or agent) in the partner territory may feel the UK salesman is stealing his commission. These
issues can usually be avoided by escalating them to the right level in the publisher’s organisation.
Nature of a licence
- it’s important to remember that with any licence you don’t own anything, so just because it’s physically possible to do
something it doesn’t mean you are entitled to do it.
- the resource remains owned by the publisher, he grants you the right to access and use his property (his resource). As
the owner, he is at liberty to place whatever restrictions he chooses on you.
Licence boundaries
- a licence is a right to use something or to do something. The right is granted to a specified individual or entity. So a
driving licence allows the specific driver (and only the specified driver) to use the roads, a television licence allows
broadcasts to be received at the specified property and only that property. The right does not automatically extended
to other entities or people just because they are related. Your spouse needs their own driver’s licence. If you own
adjacent houses, you need a tv licence for each of them. In the same way a publisher’s licence is granted to the
university only and not all of its partners and associates.
- apart from a few flat fee licences, Chest licences are granted to a number users – this may be the number of users in
absolute terms or according to some or other banding or scaling. It is logical and fair that if the number of users is
exceeded, eg because the students from an overseas partners were added, then an extra fee should be due.
Commercial reality
- your university choses to be involved with the overseas partner for financial reasons. There is no reason why the
publisher, a separate entity with its own financial considerations, should be expected to subsidise the university’s
investment by making the publisher’s property (the resource) available to more students without charge.
Contractual hierarchy
- a publisher’s relationship/transaction with you is defined by the terms of the licence you have agreed with him and
not by the plans and policies of the government or your university. The licence is a private agreement between two
parties. The government is not a party to the licence, so government policy does not automatically change the licence.
The university is a party to the agreement but any change to a private agreement requires the consent of both
parties, so the university cannot insist that a licence is extended to its overseas partner(s).