[Web4lib] ?IEEE indemnity clause

[Dan Lester]

Friday, August 19, 2005, 9:22:13 AM, you wrote:

cmc> We are investigating adding IEEExplore or at least IEEE Enterprise to
cmc> our electronic resources.  Our legal department is having some trouble
cmc> with a clause in the contract that says "Licensee acknowledges that IEEE
cmc> is not responsible for the accuracy of any information or data contained
cmc> in the database, and IEEE shall not be liable for any losses resulting
cmc> from Licensee's or any authorized user's reliance on any such
cmc> information or data under any circumstances."

cmc> Is this standard for publishers to have such a clause in their
cmc> contracts?

This is extremely common, and we've had similar wording in most
licenses at Boise State.

cmc> I don't believe we have encountered it with our contracts
cmc> for other electronic resources.  How have you dealt with such a clause?

We sign the contract.

cmc> Was your institution willing to accept that clause or did you find a way
cmc> to get it modified to something more acceptable to your organization?

We don't think it is worth fighting about.  Why?

First, it makes sense.  An aggregator such as Ebsco, IEEE, etc,
certainly can't be held responsible for every bit of information in
every journal.  Heavens, even a responsible and respected scholarly
journal with refereed articles can't be responsible for something that
is put in by an author.

Second, the chances of your wanting to sue the aggregator or publisher
are extremely remote.  Even if one of your engineers were stupid
enough to take some information from some chemical journal and blow up
the lab, it would be hard to pin it on the author, the publisher, or the
aggregator, wouldn't it?  Not that some sleazy member of a different
profession might not try, but....

NOTE: I've discussed this with our Collection Development Coordinator,
the one who signs all the contracts.  She's not thrilled about that
wording either, but we consider it just basic CYA behavior on the part
of the aggregator to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits.

Also I'll bet that many of your company's contracts with various other
firms or customers have similar wording.  If a defective chip makes
someone lose their data, is it your fault?  Not likely, but such
wording could also protect Micron from lawsuits by such users of your
products.

We see the same kinds of CYA behavior on all sorts of products in this
litigous society.  My favorite is on a cardboard sunshade that you put
in your windshield to keep the car cooler in the parking lot. It says
"WARNING: Remove sunshade before driving the car"  Well,
duuuuhhhh....I think it would be more fun to drive blind...  But I
guess if you can sue for spilling the coffee in your lap, I guess you
can sue for driving with a sunshade in your windshield.

Also, I am not an attorney, thank goodness.

dan

-- 
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com 208-283-7711
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  Fair is whatever God decides to do.