Exclusive rights, copyright ownership

The Right of Public Distribution. The exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work also entails pubHc distribution of copies, by sale or other transfer of ownership. This right, too, is the copyright owner s. 

It is a peculiar and remarkable aspect of academic journals that their publishers make a profit while receiving almost all their copy entirely for free. Almost all journals require transfer of copyright from authors to publisher upon acceptance of submitted manuscripts. Technically, this requires that an author needs specific permission from the publisher to use his own manuscript later in practice, this permission is routinely granted upon written application. A few journals now seek only exclusive licenses from authors, one condition of which preserves the author s right to personally use his own work, and which leaves copyright ownership with the author(s) the license can also become void if the publisher fails to exploit it, and can yield royalties to the authors. In practice, this license removes the administrative burden of granting routine permissions by the publisher, and royalties on journal reprints are either nominal or absent. 

Copyrights can be licensed to others, called hcerrsees. When a work is licerrsed, the copyright owner retains ownership of the right, but allows others to use it for all, or for a limited number of pitrposes. A hcence may be exclusive, i.e. it may give orre person orrly... 

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