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Posted at LIBLICENSEAmong German university presseshttp://blog.bibliothek.kit.edu/ag_univerlage we have an ongoingdiscussion whether it is economically wise to publish scholarly booksunder a CC-license permitting commercial use (cc-by-sa, cc-by-nd andcc-by). There are reasonable arguments pro and contra.The presses doing it already as a default mode (f.e. KIT Publishig,Goettingen University Press) are convinced that the integrity of thecontent and the book as such is maintained best through other modesthan a restrictive open access license. After thorough analysis wedecided to trust in:a) scientific standards (as a scientist working with material frompeers, one either indicates "own translation" or seeks permission fromauthor; one doesn't distort texts from peers as that is a scholarlyno-go),b) in continental European copyright that enables authors/creators toprohibit garbling or distortion of the creation (a miserable Kindleedition f.e. could be interpreted as an wrongful distortion; as arights-owner I'd make vendors aware that it needs to be corrected ortaken down)c) in the strength of our brands (trademark law gives us exclusiverights to sell products under our name)and d) in the field we're playing on. Scientific books from universitypresses usually serve the purpose of P2P communication. This ain't the field of generating hit-and-run profits as the entire field operates against a backdrop of reputation and long-standing relations, among authors, editors and their presses, among presses, vendors and libraries.So far we didn't need to persecute any infringements, hence we willcontinue with the chosen licensing policy.In our perspective the advantages of libre licenses outweigh thepotential risks. Although there is no robust evidence yet we areconvinced that books in their printed and online form benefit fromwidest dissemination. And dissemination of scientific books shouldn'tcome to a full stop once it reaches the realm of the "commercial".Although several authors think so, "commercial use" isn't necessarilya profit-maximising enterprise. Any given player in the internetrelying on generating revenues exercises commercial use. We don't want to exclude databases, contexts, connections, whether existing or yet unknown, solely because they involve financial flows with a commercial nature.BestMargoMargo BargheerLeitung Elektronisches Publizieren ǀ Head of Electronic Publishing----------------------------Georg-August-Universität GöttingenNiedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek GöttingenState and University Library Goettingen 