ARL joins new Re:Create coalition to promote balanced copyright - April 29, 2015
ARL joined US technology companies, trade associations, and civil society organisations in the launch of Re:Create, a coalition that promotes balanced copyright policy. A balanced copyright system depends on limitations and exceptions, such as fair use. As technology advances, it is imperative that the copyright law… Read More
National Institute of Standards and Technology releases ‘Plan for Providing Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research’ - April 10, 2015
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released on April 3, 2015, a ‘Plan for Providing Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research’. The NIST plan calls for making peer-reviewed scholarly publications and associated data that result from NIST funding publicly accessible.… Read More
SPARC applauds reintroduction of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act - March 19, 2015
SPARC, an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication, has applauded the reintroduction of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act, which would ensure that public access to research articles becomes the law… Read More
Ebooks are an ‘electronic service’ and subject to higher tax, rules EU court - March 10, 2015
The EU's highest court recently ruled that the European Union countries may not extend tax exemptions for books to include ebooks, adding that it considers downloadable ebooks to be services. E-books must be subject to the full rate of value-added tax (VAT), the court ruled. … Read More
UK government publishes long awaited science and innovation strategy, leaves many questions unanswered - December 19, 2014
The UK government has published its long awaited science and innovation strategy, but many of the questions asked by the science community will not be answered until the next spending review. The strategy re-iterated capital spending plans set out in the autumn statement, but does not commit to ringfencing the… Read More
Apple agrees to settle ebook antitrust case with US states, others - June 19, 2014
Computer and software firm Apple Inc., US, has reportedly reached an out-of-court settlement to lay an antitrust lawsuit regarding ebook price fixing to rest. The class-action lawsuit, brought forward by 33 U.S. states, alleged that Apple was a dominant figure in an ebook price-fixing conspiracy designed… Read More
