FAQ ORBi^lu

c) MY OBLIGATIONS

• What documents are protected by copyright and for how long?
• Who is responsible for making sure a document deposited in ORBi^lu does not breach any copyright?
• How can I be sure that open access deposit of the full text of my publications doesn’t breach the copyright and related rights legislation?
• A number of other people and I have written an article that I want to deposit in ORBi^lu; do I have to ask permission from each of the co-authors?
• What should I do if one of my co-authors refuses to sign the licence?
• What am I committing to if I sign the licence when I deposit a document in ORBi^lu?

Protection is only given to original works (marked by their authors’ personality) expressed in a formallowing them to be communicated to the public (a simple idea cannot be protected). If they are original, works are protected for the lifetime of the author and for seventy years after their death, in favour of whomever they designate, otherwise their legal heirs.

Where a joint work has been created by two or more people who worked in conjunction, copyright exists in favour of all the entitled parties until seventy years after the death of the last surviving co-author.

Works are deposited entirely at the risk of the author (and any co-authors). It is therefore up to them to check that depositing the work does not breach the rights of the publisher or any other party that could assert rights over the work itself or elements contained in it (drawings, photographs, graphics, texts, etc.); otherwise, the author guarantees that the authorisations needed to distribute the work on the internet have been obtained.

The author also has to check whether the work has to remain confidential (confidentiality clause in a research contract, planned patent application, etc.).

Moreover, the author signs a licence with the University of Luxembourg under which he/she certifies that all necessary verifications have been done and relieves the University of all liability in that regard.

Many publishers allow open access deposit of works they have published. However, some impose conditions (like adhering to an embargo period or adding a link to the publisher’s web site) or only allow a specific version of the work to go on line.

In order to find out exactly what to do for a text you have authored, you should go through the following procedure, in the order in which it is presented:

1. First, look at any contract you’ve signed with the publisher:

• a. if it contains an assignment of rights including the right of on-line distribution or if you’ve granted an exclusive licence covering that right, you have to get assurance that the publisher still allows deposit in an institutional repository (see points 2 and 3, below);
• b. if, on the other hand, the contract makes no mention of the right of on-line distribution (it only covers exploitation in paper form) or if it grants a non-exclusive licence over the right, you can deposit the work without the publisher’s prior consent, but only in its author’s version, i.e. a version not containing any element over which the publisher might claim an intellectual property right (logo, possibly pagination, trade mark, etc.);
• c. bear in mind that, apart from works created under an employment contract or special status or further to an order contract, assignments covering means of exploitation unknown of at the time of signature are void;
• d. also bear in mind that contracts dealing with copyright are subject to strict interpretation; therefore, any ambiguity will be interpreted in the author’s favour.

2. Consult the SHERPA/RoMEO web site. This is a database which lists various editorial policies in relation to self-archiving. Searches can be done based on the journal’s ISSN, its title or by publisher. This may be worthwhile because, even if the publisher has signed a contract with the author for an assignment of rights or an exclusive licence over them, it may have issued a more permissive policy in relation to self-archiving. If it has, the University will take account of such publisher-defined policies as contained in SHERPA/RoMEO.

Attention: read the special terms of each publisher that allows deposit very carefully, and stick to them. You may also enter this information in a special field in ORBi^lu.

3. If you have assigned or exclusively licenced your on-line distribution rights to the publisher and the SHERPA/RoMEO web site does not indicate that there is an editorial policy favourable to self-archiving, you can request the publisher’s special permission. It is not unusual for a publisher to permit an author to self-archive one of his/her publications on an ad hoc basis in spite of the agreed contract terms. Plus, when publishers receive multiple requests of this sort, they will be more amenable to adopting a general policy in favour of authors’ self-archiving. In this respect, special model letters are available in the Toolbox. For future ease of use, we would also encourage you to suggest from the outset that your publisher insert a special clause into your publishing contracts allowing you to deposit your works under open access in ORBi^lu.

In any event, always make sure you comply with the conditions laid down by publishers (embargo, version, link to the publisher’s site, etc.) and keep track of your steps in ORBi^lu, if nowhere else.

By law, each person that truly collaborated in producing the work must give his/her consent or refusal to the work being distributed in open access.

When the work is deposited, an e-mail is automatically sent to:

• all co-authors who are on the staff of the University of Luxembourg;
• the first author, if he/she is not a member of the UL (the depositor must first have entered their e-mail addresses in ORBi^lu);
• all the other co-authors whose e-mail addresses have been entered by the depositor, so that the licence agreement can be sent to them for signature.

The authors have 30 days to sign or indicate their refusal to sign the agreement. At the end of that period, if there has been no answer, they are considered to have automatically agreed.

If one of the authors refuses to sign the licence:

• the co-authors will be notified by e-mail;
• he/she can, if desired, state the reasons for refusing. This explanation will be included in the e-mail sent to the various co-authors.

In that case, the submission will still only be accessible to the depositor, who can nevertheless allow restricted access publication (intranet only) until a solution is reached with the author who is denying open access distribution. By putting the document under restricted access, the depositor can still finalise the archiving process. The document will then be accessible to outside users and students by means of a copy request.

By signing the licence agreement, you authorise the University of Luxembourg to distribute your work on the internet so that it is available free of charge to all, in accordance with the principles of open access.

By signing, you confirm that:

• very minor presentational changes (purely formal) may be made to the work to ensure a minimum standard of uniformity in the repository;
• repository users may read, download, copy, distribute and print the work provided they first agree:
  • not to use the work for commercial purposes (i.e. with the main intention or objective of commercial benefits or profit);
  • not to use the work in a way that might harm its exploitation in other forms;
  • to cite the source including the name(s) of the author(s);
  • not to alter, transform or adapt the work without the author’s express permission.

You also waive any claim to payment for distribution of your work via ORBi^lu.

Finally, by signing the agreement, you guarantee to the University that:

• you still hold title to the licenced copyright and that on-line distribution via the internet does not infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties or that, if you no longer hold these rights or you have any doubts in that regard, you have taken the necessary steps to satisfy yourself that the (presumed) holder of the rights gives permission for the work to be deposited in an institutional repository and be put on line;
• the work does not infringe third-party intellectual property rights, i.e., in particular, it does not contain any element (photograph, drawings, graphics, logo, etc.) over which any third party might claim copyright, image rights, trade mark rights, etc.);
• if the work has been created in collaboration with other persons, they agree that it can be deposited in the university repository.