Another legal point that hasn't been mentioned yet is the difference between individual copyright and copyright on the "compilation." The latter refers to the form of the document that appears in print, including the layout, illustrations, and specifications of the text format. For instance, when I edited the Rock Garden Quarterly for NARGS, individual contributors retained copyright on the /wording /of their text and the images they submitted, but the NARGS held copyright on the compilation, meaning the entire issue and the published format of its contents. Thus an author could republish, or grant permission to republish, his or her text in some other format, and a photographer could use the photos in other places and formats. However, only NARGS could reproduce an entire issue of the journal, as in fact the society has in scanning back issues and posting them online. I don't know whether IBS had a similar agreement with its contributors, but it seems likely. Some publishers (e.g., Springer), of course, retain more stringent rights to contributions, for example, allowing articles to be accessed online only by individuals or institutions that have paid subscriptions. We must have people on this list who contributed articles to Herbertia, and it would be interesting to hear from them. Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA On 5/10/2020 9:52 AM, oooOIOooo via pbs wrote: > Is the IBS a non-profit organization? Does it still exist as a corporation? If it still exists it still holds its property. When non-profits close their assets either pass to another non-profit, they are sold to satisfy corporate debt or they pass to the State in which the corporation is domiciled. > > I think the IBS may still exist, in which case it would be copyright violation to use its intellectual property without consent. It is legal for individuals to make a single copy of work they hold as a backup. > > There is also the issue of author copyright. Unless the agreement between author and IBS permitted the IBS to reproduce the author's work as it sees fit, author permission would also be needed to scan and make available the journals. > > The permission granted by the sentence in the masthead might be adequate for an organization that doesn't make money thereby to scan and post the work. That is a question for a copyright attorney. The Cactus and Succulent Society of America relied on a broader statement, that has been on its journal's masthead since its founding, to permit publication without gathering permission from its authors, when deciding to scan and sell digital copies of its back issues. > > Herb Kelley told me years ago he was in the process of scanning Herbertia to put it online. > > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…