Is there no end to this madness?
jc
August 31, 2016 | By Elliot Harmon and Daniel Nazer
Stupid Patent of the Month: Elsevier Patents Online Peer Review
On August 30, 2016, the Patent Office issued U.S. Patent No.
9,430,468, titled; “Online peer review and method.” The owner of
this patent is none other than Elsevier, the giant academic
publisher. When it first applied for the patent, Elsevier sought
very broad claims that could have covered a wide range of online
peer review. Fortunately, by the time the patent actually issued,
its claims had been narrowed significantly. So, as a practical
matter, the patent will be difficult to enforce. But we still think
the patent is stupid, invalid, and an indictment of the system.
Before discussing the patent, it is worth considering why Elsevier
might want a government granted monopoly on methods of peer review.
Elsevier owns more than 2000 academic journals. It charges huge fees
and sometimes imposes bundling requirements whereby universities
that want certain high profile journals must buy a package including
other publications. Universities, libraries, and researchers are
increasingly questioning whether this model makes sense. After all,
universities usually pay the salaries of both the researchers that
write the papers and of the referees who conduct peer review.
Elsevier’s business model has been compared to a restaurant where
the customers bring the ingredients, do all the cooking, and then
get hit with a $10,000 bill.
[…]
Continua qui:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/08/stupid-patent-month-elsevier-patents-online-peer-review