Clarification on SERU proposal

["Judy Luther" <judy.luther@informedstrategies.com>]

Hi Sandy,

I think you are right about the University of Chicago's approach 
being a "click through license" or a license of adhesion. Since 
many libraries must print them and treat them as if they were 
license agreements, you don't necessarily see savings in the time 
required for the process. In fact, it can be harder to initiate 
needed license negotiations.

The SERU approach is different in an important way - it's not 
another kind of license, even a click-through license. SERU is an 
optional approach and avoids the use of "terms and conditions", 
"agreements" or even "guidelines". With the SERU approach, 
publishers and subscribing institutions may choose to forgo the 
license - even a license of adhesion. The only terms of the 
exchange are thus the business terms: what, for how much, for how 
long. SERU describes a general understanding of behavior and can 
be an option for those publishers for whom the paperwork isn't 
worth the handling cost.

I'm going to post a response to John Cox's message shortly and I 
think you might find his description of this approach as an 
implied contract without a license helpful. The power of this 
kind of approach is that for many transactions, both parties may 
be satisfied without the expensive and time-consuming resort of a 
license agreement.

Judy Luther MLS, MBA
Informed Strategies LLC
610-645-7546 EDT
judy.luther@informedstrategies.com
  <outbind://200/www.informedstrategies.com> www.informedstrategies.com

   _____

But doesn't this "agreement," whether it takes the form of a "written
license" or not, still come with "terms and conditions," which is what the
recent post from the University of Chicago Press mentioned. And if one must
accept these "terms and conditions" through some sort of click-on procedure,
isn't that still a "license" fully valid in a court of law? Our officials at
Penn State frown on such click-on agreements, and we at the Press have had
to negotiate individually a number of them anyway with the vendors offering
them.

Sandy Thatcher
Penn State University Press