Fair Use In Scientific Blogging

GrumpySimon writes "Recently, the well-read science blog Retrospectacle posted an article on a scientific paper that concluded that alcohol augments the antioxidant properties of fruit. The blog post reproduced a chart and a table from the original article and everything was fully attributed. When the publisher John Wiley & Sons found out, they threatened legal action unless the chart and table were removed. Understandably, this whole mess has stirred up quite a storm of protest. Many people see Retrospectacle's action as plainly falling under fair use. There is a call for a boycott of Wiley and Wiley's journals."

When Darwin Meets Publishing

[mfh]

Darwin said it best when he said, "I love fools' experiments. I am always making them."

And it would seem that producing valid data in the form of a chart, publishing it and then going after someone for publicizing your findings is fool hearty at best, but sadly also very mean spirited and it works against the mission of the scientists in the long run.

I will not seek to help profit those who would still falsely believe in a captive audience, so therefore this publisher is coming off my reading list.

both sides

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm someone who works in the publishing field, so I'm coming at this from both sides. As far as the blog's reproduction of the figures/tables is concerned, I would absolutely consider that as falling under the realm of fair use. However, I also have to deal with permissions to reproduce figures and tables. As far as I'm concerned, permission/payment should only be necessary when you intend to reproduce the material and include it in something that is sold (eg, another journal, magazine, pay website, etc). The problem is that many copyright lawyers don't see things that way...

loot at the actual link

[superwiz]

The first poster in response to her blog is actually on Wiley editorial board. And he agrees with her -- not the company. This is the problem with lawyers running everything. It's very hard to get them to understand the world beyond dollar signs -- most of them just don't have the background.

fair use

[OldChemist]

As an amateur blogger, sometimes on scientific topics... I usually like to give a web reference when I quote from some article or post. Unfortunately, if you are quoting from a scientific journal or article where the material is not available without a subscription, this is not going to do anyone any good. So I usually quote the stuff and put in the caveat that the post is done in the belief that it is allowed by the doctrine of fair use. I've cautiously put in some graphics in an attempt to test the waters. So far, no one has called me on it. I don't know what I'd do if they did. (Probably cave..) But as others have commented there always seems to be some jerk out there who thinks that they can make a lot of money out of some fairly trivial and shortlived post on a blog. Makes you wonder. OC

Re:Ridiculous

[TheLink]

ORLY? Junior staff get that much authority? Such empowerment.

Maybe it's an ex-senior staffer who's now a junior staffer or is that even more unbelievable nowadays ;).

Re:Ridiculous

[squidfood]

Ah, I see that Wiley has followed Washington D.C.'s lead: before doing something objectionable, hire a junior staffer for blame absorption.

Yes, in addition, it creates a type of legal question-begging: if you routinely grant permission for what would be fair use anyway, no one can take you to court to say they don't need your permission to engage in fair use, so fair use rights can never be firmly tested. Very convenient!

Other questions to ponder are whether this is a routine scare-tactic from Wiley (which they would back down on, but cows 95% would-be users), etc. All worthy of discussion in this thread, but probably, at this point, not worth another ream of e-mail to the so-called "junior staffer."

This isn't fair use

[Shohat]

This is not about fair use or commentary/research - The blog is commercial, filled with ads and other goodies. Her blog post generates revenue, and is not just shown to a classroom for educational purposes. This isn't about scientific blogging.

Re:Ridiculous

[GrumpySimon]

One thing I forgot to mention in the overview is that we should keep in mind that Wiley & Sons are part of the "American Association of Publishers" who have deliberately attacked the open access publishing movement, and have hired PR stooge Eric Dezenhall to help them. Slashdot discussion on that here [slashdot.org].

In short - I wouldn't trust them as far as I could spit them.