What do publishers do? Balancing interests in copyright Lynette Owen, Copyright Director, Pearson Education Ltd, United Kingdom Vilnius May 13 th 2010

Common misperceptions about publishing Publishers don’t really do anything – they just print authors’ manuscripts exactly as they are written Publishers “lock up” content to benefit themselves Everything on the internet should be free anyway

What do authors feel? Some may wish to make their work available to the public free of charge and they are entitled to do so if they wish, perhaps through Creative Commons licences But other authors choose to use the services of publishers to bring their work to market in print and/or electronic form, either because they want to earn money and/or enhance their reputations

So what do publishers actually do? (1) They can discover, encourage and improve the work of creative writers and build their reputation In educational, academic and professional publishing it is usually the publisher who identifies market needs and who finds authors to fulfil those needs Publishers invest time, expertise and money in designing not only books in print format but also supplementary online learning materials

So what do publishers actually do? (2) They have developed skills in reaching their target markets and promoting their books to maximise sales, often in the face of stiff competition They handle all aspects of sales and deal with accounting to the author

What about “free”? High quality content can never be really be free – somewhere along the line, someone has to pay Open Access is primarily a feature of scientific journal publishing – the impetus comes primarily from research funding organisations. The most prestigious journals are not OA. There are some interesting experiments with OA books e.g. Bloomsbury Professional

Publishers initiatives to address special market needs Free or low-cost access to academic journals via programmes such as HINARI and AGORA Some publishers specialise in producing original educational materials to meet market needs in developing countries Some publishers adapt existing materials for local curricula Most academic publishers have large-scale licensing programmes for translation and low- price reprint rights of core texts to developing countries

What about compulsory licensing? The Paris Revisions to the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions provide developing countries with access to compulsory licensing for books needed for educational purposes, but with stringent rules which have often been misunderstood Countries with their own form of compulsory licensing have often acted despite the availability of appropriate editions, and in some cases facilitate state-sanctioned piracy

What about copyright exceptions? There are moves for multinational exceptions for the visually impaired, although many countries already have their own provisions Exceptions for educational use damage not only the future of textbook producers in the developed countries (whose books are the main targets) but also that of local publishers