This section is concerned with 'downstream' rights management between the publisher and customers of various kinds. An increasingly important aspect of the publisher's responsibility is to arrange licences with groups of user institutions, often based on the nation, state or province, or on a consortium of member institutions. Publishers deploy their skills in negotiation, rights management and marketing to facilitate access across a wide range of academic and research user interests. Publishers need to have a clear and consistent policy for dealing with rights downstream. Authors want their work to be as widely and freely available as possible.
Publishers can help by taking a generous approach to educational and research reuse by others.
Participation in centrally agreed licences, for example with regard to photocopying or digitisation, can also simplify reuse by the academic and other communities. Publishers have a moral responsibility to protect their authors' work from misappropriation or distortion by others and to act against any infringements irrespective of copyright ownership. Both misappropriation and distortion can be made easier by electronic delivery, and publishers need to be clear in their licences about what is and is not permitted, and vigilant in detecting and ending any abuse. Technical protection, such as encryption or digital watermarks, may sometimes be appropriate. The relationship between author and publisher is a partnership.