Library Journal reports that Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the congressional subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, has announced that no further action will be taken on the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act until next year.  Copyright experts including Villanova law professor Michael Carroll and Peter Suber, author of Open Access News blog have commented on some of the implications of the proposed bill.

Library Journal reports today  that on September 11th, the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property of the House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on a bill that could seriously impact the National Institutes of Health’s public access mandate.  Tenatively titled “Fair Copyright in Research Works Act” the bill responds to claims by publishers that NIH’s policy encroaches on their ability to manage copyrighted content.

NIH’s Public Access Policy, which is strongly supported by the library community, ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research.  In July 2008 alone, nearly 4,000 articles were submitted to PubMed Central in accordance with the mandate.

To read more from Library Journal, please see:  http://www.libraryjournal.com/info/CA6594400.html?nid=2673#news1.

NIH’s Public Access Policy, mandating that all articles arising from NIH funds must be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication, has been a boon for researchers, medical practitioners and public, making publicly-funded research accessible to all.  But it has been a source of confusion for authors, who may encounter conflicts between the NIH mandate and the stipulations of publishers’ contracts.

Ben Grillot of the Association of Research Libraries has published a report titled “PubMed Central Deposit and Author Rights”, providing guidelines on how authors can balance NIH requirements and publishers’ restrictions.  The report is available for free on the ARL website at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/grillot-pubmed.pdf.