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School of Law

A Workshop on Copyright and Open Access

When: Wednesday, October 12, 2022, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Where: CCLS, Room 1.2, Queen Mary, University of London, 69 Lincoln's Inn Fields London WC2A

With John Willinsky’s new (open access) book from MIT Press as a starting point, this workshop considers how copyright may be a remediable problem in our pursuit of what we now agree is best for science, namely, open access. After all, copyright offers publishers no legal support for open access, while bringing the full weight of the law to bear on journal subscription payments. Willinsky asks whether this is impeding the move to open access in a timely manner at a fair price; does it call for more than copyright workarounds, such as sharing final drafts? Willinsky invites consideration of two legislative remedies. The first is strengthening copyright’s research exceptions and limitations; the second is introducing statutory licensing for research publications. He inquires after the international implications of such reforms, particularly amid current European copyright initiatives. He asks, ultimately, whether it is time for those interested in the progress of science to take up copyright reform.

Chair: Professor Uma Suthersanen, Chair in Global IP Law / Director, Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute

Key speaker: Professor John Willinsky: Professor, Simon Fraser University, and Khosla Family Professor Emeritus, Stanford University. His dozen books include The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship (MIT Press 2006) and The Intellectual Properties of Learning: A Prehistory from Saint Jerome to John Locke (Chicago 2017).

Commentators

  • Professor Fiona Macmillan, Professor of Law, Birkbeck University of London; Professor of Law, Università Roma Tre
  • Dr Enrico Bonnadio, City, University of London
  • Dr Patrick Goold,, City, University of London

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