The STM publishers' perspective on multimedia issues in the electronic era

Abstract

Publishing houses in Scientific, Technical and Medical fields have found themselves operating within a new context with the advent of electronic publishing. In this changing environment driven by new technologies copyright remains a contentious issue. The primary goal of publishers in this respect is to protect the authors' ideal and the economic benefits from publication as well as the reproduction of their work. Free flow of information, however, does not mean „free of charge". In order to secure authors' rights, rules have to be established for electronic oommunication which are based on the existing conventions of copyright law. The technology is available to link copyright monitoring, usage control and compensation (fees of use) recording. Agreements should be sought between RROs (Reprographic Right Organisations) and user communities. In several countries, RROs have undertaken the collective administration of copyright, negotiating between copyright owners and user communities. In the near future, fruitful cooperation can be achieved through the development of efficient copyright management systems