{"id":12824,"date":"2014-08-13T14:29:38","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T19:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/scholcomm\/?p=12824"},"modified":"2014-08-13T14:30:05","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T19:30:05","slug":"owns-journal-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/scholcomm\/2014\/08\/13\/owns-journal-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Who owns that journal? &#8212; an update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this year <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/scholcomm\/2014\/03\/18\/more-than-meets-the-eye\/\">I wrote about a lawsuit<\/a> involving the Duke University Press and their dispute with the Social Science History Association over who would control the journal<em> Social Science History<\/em>. A decision from the trial court in North Carolina has now been issued in the case, so it seems like a good time to update the story.<\/p>\n<p>In my earlier post, I summarized the facts of the dispute this way:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div id=\"stcpDiv\">The SSHA has informed DUP that it wants to end its long-standing association and look for a different publisher for its flagship journal, <em>Social Science History<\/em>. \u00a0The Press, however, asserts that language in their original contract means that the SSHA can stop participating in the journal, but cannot remove it from the control of DUP<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div>I also said that there was probably more to the case than met the eye, and the facts recounted in the <a href=\"http:\/\/propertyintangible.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Social-Science-History-Assn-v.-Duke-Univ.pdf\">District Court decision<\/a>, which is a summary judgment based on the documents filed by both parties, seem to confirm that.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The District Court&#8217;s account of the facts of the dispute really helps explain that unusual language that is at the heart of the case &#8212; &#8220;Discontinue participation in publishing the journal.&#8221;\u00a0 This is very odd language, and it turns out to come about because of an extraordinary agreement.\u00a0 Apparently in 1996 the Social Science history Association felt they were unable to support the journal anymore, and Duke University Press agree to take over the financial responsibility.\u00a0 DUP collected dues for the SSHA, took all the risks of publishing the journal, and returned 50% of the dues income to the SSHA each year.\u00a0 The unusual language about withdrawal of participation comes from this 1996 agreement, which the SSHA decided it wanted to terminate in 2012, after soliciting new bids for publishing services from other academic publishers.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The other facts I found especially interesting involved the move by the SSHA to pressure Duke Press regarding its interpretation of the agreement, by contacting third parties like HighWire Press, which distributes Duke Press journals online, and demanding that they withhold payment of monies apparently due to DUP because of the conflict.\u00a0 When the lawsuit was filed, the SSHA alleged that Duke Press had violated the agreement and infringed SSHA&#8217;s copyright by publishing an electronic version of the journal.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Apparently the full complaint included seven distinct claims made by the SSHA against Duke Press, and three counterclaims by the Press.\u00a0 So disentangling the decision is difficult.\u00a0 But it comes down to two key findings.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>First, the court holds that the unusual language about withdrawing from participation must be interpreted in light of the agreement as a whole and the intent of the parties that it expresses.\u00a0 While acknowledging that the interpretation offered by the Press is possible if the wording is read in isolation, overall the court determines that the ownership of the journal always remained with the SSHA.\u00a0 So on that central issue &#8212; who owns the journal and has the right to determine its future &#8212; it is the Association rather than the Press, and the Court finds that the 1996 agreement was terminated as of Jan. 1, 2014.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Association is therefore free to find another publisher, and I think my speculation that the journal will move to a large commercial press that will return higher profits to the Association will be justified.\u00a0 I am very confident that we will see a significant hike in the cost of <em>Social Science History<\/em>.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The other important holding in this decision is that Duke Press was not in breach of contract or committing copyright infringement when it published the journal electronically. The court holds that authorization for such publication, while not explicitly included by the 1996 agreement, &#8220;is implied by the plain terms of the agreement and is evidenced by the actions of the parties.&#8221;\u00a0 Specifically, the SSHA knew about electronic publication for years, but only objected to it when its efforts to terminate the agreement led to conflict.\u00a0 It was the SSHA, the court finds, that breached the agreement by causing third parties to withhold funds due to DUP, and the court orders the SSHA to relinquish all claim to those monies.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>This case seems both unusual and unfortunate to me.\u00a0 It is unusual because the specific circumstances that led to the conflict are unlikely to be repeated; it does not set any precedent that we all must now be cognizant of.\u00a0 It is unfortunate, first, because it pitted two venerable and respected academic organizations against each other.\u00a0 And even more disturbing is that this is as an illustration of the baleful effects that can result from the large amounts of money that commercial publishing extracts from the academy, and the temptation to get in on the profits.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this year I wrote about a lawsuit involving the Duke University Press and their dispute with the Social Science History Association over who would control the journal Social Science History. A decision from the trial court in North Carolina has now been issued in the case, so it seems like a good time to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/scholcomm\/2014\/08\/13\/owns-journal-update\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Who owns that journal? &#8212; an update<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copyright-issues-and-legislation","category-scholarly-publishing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Who owns that journal? - an update - Scholarly Communications @ Duke<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/scholcomm\/2014\/08\/13\/owns-journal-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who owns that journal? - an update - Scholarly Communications @ Duke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier this year I wrote about a lawsuit involving the Duke University Press and their dispute with the Social Science History Association over who would control the journal Social Science History. 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