Copyright & Legal Affairs

As the voice of scholarly and academic publishers, STM actively engages with an international community of stakeholders on copyright and legal issues in the digital age, and advocates public policies that recognize the importance of the intellectual contribution of STM publishing to society (quality, innovation, distribution and preservation)

The Aims of the Copyright & Legal Affairs Committee

To pursue, within the limits of the STM Association's aims and objectives, the highest possible level of international protection of copyright works and of the services of publishers in making these works available;

To advise and provide guidelines on the legal aspects of various approaches to rights acquisition and management including best practices guides on the balancing of rights required for publishing and communication needs in the scholarly community;

To enhance and improve awareness and knowledge of copyright and related rights, in particular on the international level, among publishers as well as all other members of the academic and scholarly community and those otherwise involved in the management or transfer of rights;

To prevent and fight piracy and all other unauthorized uses of protected publisher products world-wide in conjunction with other relevant organizations.