MARK SEELEY
Bio, Publications and PresentationsBIO
MARK SEELEY presents, posts and consults on public policy issues involving the legal aspects of science publishing (through the SciPubLaw LLC entity and on LinkedIn and X/Twitter ). Mark has recently addressed issues such as online piracy, life sciences innovation and copyright, interlibrary loan and “controlled digital lending”, EU copyright directives and Open Access/Transformative Agreements.
Mark retired in December 2017 from his position as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the science publisher and information analytics provider Elsevier. During Mark’s tenure at Elsevier, a time of many challenges to copyright law from the growth of the Internet, he served on the Copyright Committees of both the International STM Association (from 2004-2016 as chair) and the Association of American Publishers. Mark helped develop numerous position papers for STM on digital rights and copyright exceptions, orphan works, academic use of published content, and additionally supported STM programs such as Research4Life and the TDM principles.
Currently, Mark serves on the Board of Directors for the Copyright Clearance Center and Friends of Research4Life. He is also a member of the Copyright Society of the USA and the Society for Scholarly Publishing. He has been an IP law adjunct faculty member at Suffolk University Law School (Boston).
Mark is available to discuss legal issues in enforcement (anti-piracy), copyright law and policy, publishing ethics, and in science publishing trends and developments.
Bar admission: Massachusetts (1993)
Education: Thomas Jefferson College, Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA (B.Ph, Literature); Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Mass., USA (J.D., cum laude)
Contact Mark
Consulting
Mark is available to discuss legal issues in enforcement (anti-piracy), copyright law and policy, publishing ethics, and in science publishing trends and developments. Contact Mark using the form above.
Publications
Academic & Professional Publishing
- Article on value of collective licensing for online uses including TDM and AI, published in Legaltech News June 2021 and article can be found here on the SciPubLaw site.
- Essay on the history of collective licensing included in the “Creating Solutions Together” book published by the CCC in 2020. The essay can also be found here on the SciPubLaw site.
- Co-author, with Lois Wasoff on copyright and other legal issues in a Chandos/ Woodhead (now Elsevier)
book Academic & Professional Publishing (Cambridge, England; September 2012). - Contributor on USA copyright protection for Publishing Law, 3rd Edition (2006) and 4th edition (2011), Hugh Jones and Christopher Benson, Routledge, Oxford, England.
Posts
- Joining SNSI (the online site anti-piracy and cybersecurity awareness
program) December 2023 - US Copyright Office panel on copyright and AI February 2020
- Oracle v Google (why Google’s use is not Fair) February 2020
- International copyright law and contracts December 2019
- Books digitization & demand (criticizing paper suggesting Google Books created e-demand) February 2019
- Role of publishers and the “public domain” January 2019
- Publishing and competition law (criticizing complaints made against publishers) November 2018
- USMCA compared to NAFTA and TPP October 2018
- Copyright law revision efforts (DSM) September 2018
- Publishing: business and law June 2018
- EU and Open Science platform April 2018 and March 2018
- Response on TDM issue in February 2018 report by Dr. Rosati February 2018
- Reflecting on my time at Elsevier January 2018
- Analysis of the TransPacific Partnership text 2015 2016
- 2 nd Circuit decision Authors Guild v Google 2015
- Copyright law reform both sides of the Atlantic (LI link) 2015
Recent presentations, interventions & debates
- On copyright and innovation in life sciences (October 2020) US PTO conference on life sciences,IP & innovation (also see my comments on the SciPubLaw site.
- NISO seminar on privacy and scholarship September 2020 Privacy in the Age of Surveillance:
Everyone’s Concern | NISO website (also see my comments on my presentations page here) - Panelist, CCC events at October 2019 Frankfurt Book Fair: EU DSM copyright directive and on OA and Transformative Agreements
- Presenter Legal Issues in the Controlled Digital Lending proposal NISO Virtual Conference May 2019
- “Professional ethics requirements for publishing on preprint servers,”
NISO virtual conference on the Preprint: Integrating the Form into the Scholarly Ecosystem, February 2018 - Presentation at Charleston Conference November 2016, The Long Arm of the Law, “A Day in the Life of the Elsevier GC” Watch Video
- “Copyright in the Age of Analytics,” STM association Innovation Seminar, London, December 2017 (see Beyond the Book podcast)
- Panelist, Copyright Society of the USA, “Rethinking the publishing agreement” Boston, June 2016
- Panelist, “Copyright, related rights and news in the EU: Assessing potential new laws”University of Amsterdam April 2016
- Panelist, Library Archiving and Preservation Issues (with Jonathan Band, Mary Minnow, Eric Schwartz), Copyright Exceptions for Libraries in Digital Age: Section 108 Reforms symposia, Columbia University Law School, February 2013
- Debate with Peter Suber (Open Access advocate at Harvard) over US NIH OA policy for journal publications. Harvard, June 2012
- Presentation at Charleston Conference November 2016, The Long Arm of the Law, “A Day in the Life of the Elsevier GC” Watch Video
- “Enabling Text & Data Mining: Contracts”, CRL webinar (Center for Research Libraries), July 2013 Also on YouTube™
- Panelist, Library Archiving and Preservation Issues (with Jonathan Band, Mary Minnow, Eric Schwartz), Copyright Exceptions for Libraries in Digital Age: Section 108 Reforms symposia, Columbia University Law School, February 2013 Watch Video
Debate with Peter Suber (Open Access advocate at Harvard) over US NIH OA policy for journal publications. Harvard, June 2012
- “Enabling Text and Data Mining: Contracts”, CRL webinar (Center for Research Libraries), July 2013 Also on YouTube™
- “Developing a publishing ethics program at a major scholarly publisher”, World Conference on Research Integrity, Montreal, Canada, May 2013
- Panelist, Library Archiving and Preservation Issues (with Jonathan Band, Mary Minnow, Eric Schwartz), Copyright Exceptions for Libraries in Digital Age: Section 108 Reforms symposia, Columbia University Law School, February 2013 Watch Video
- “Legal Issues in Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern,” COPE North American chapter meeting (Committee on Publication Ethics), October 2012
Panelist, “Global Copyright Issues for Publishing (managing rights across borders)”, Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) annual meeting, Arlington, Virginia, May 2012 Watch Video
- Debate with Peter Suber (Open Access advocate, Harvard Berkman Center) over implementation of NIH OA policy, June 2012, Harvard Law School Watch Video
- Panelist, “Global Copyright Issues for Publishing (managing rights across borders)”, Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) annual meeting, Arlington, Virginia, May 2012 Watch Video
- Panelist, debate on interlibrary loan and copyright concerns of publishers (with Dave Hansen, then DPLA fellow at UC Berkeley Law), 43 rd annual Colorado Interlibrary Loan Conference, Colorado State University, April 2012
- Panelist representing rightsholder position and advocating for negotiated stakeholder guidelines rather than (poorly planned) copyright reforms (with Fred van Lohmann from Google purporting to represent “users”) at international conference “Towards Flexible Copyright,” the Hague, February 2012
- “Copyright in the digital age: creative industries vs technology?” East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, October 2011
- “Elsevier and the publisher’s role in supporting publishing ethics,” University of Maryland conference on publishing ethics, October 2011
- “Open Access to Scholarly Publications,” February 2010, Columbia Law School (with Kenneth Crews from Columbia)
- Intervention (on behalf of STM association), US Copyright Office, Section 108 Study Group, on preserving library market opportunities and solutions rather than extensions of copyright exceptions for the digital environment, January 2007
- “Copyright Exceptions in the Education and Research Markets”, SSP conference, Washington, June 2006
- “Impact of the internet on the services aspect of the STM publishing business”, Panel, “Strategic Change”, Academic Publishing in Europe (APE), Berlin, Germany, April 2006
Large panel participation (+ moderating):
- Panel moderator: “The EU’s Digital Single Market Agenda”, Copyright Society of USA mid-winter meeting, Memphis, TN, February 2019
- Panelist,”Challenges and Opportunities for Europe’s Digital Single Market”, speaking on Article 11 and the new neighboring right for news publishers, Suffolk University Law School, Boston, October 2018
- Panelist, “Copyright and trademarks: what does the future hold?”, Fordham Intellectual Property Law Institute, New York, April 2016 (see IP Kat blog here)
- Panelist, “Open Access Publishing”, Annual Association Law Symposium, ASAE (Center for Association Leadership), Washington DC, October 2014
- Presenter, “OA and copyright”, COPE North American seminar, Philadelphia, August 2014
- Panelist, “General Counsel roundtable”, Fordham Intellectual Property Law Institute, Fordham Law School, New York, April 2017 (see IP Kat blog post here) (similar event at Fordham in April 2014)
- Panelist, Copyright Society of the USA, New England Chapter, “Two Sides of Fair Use: in the University and in the Patent Office” (April 2013)
- Panelist, Compliance Issues (anti-Bribery), Corporate Counsel Institute, Suffolk Law School, Boston, MA, September 2012
- Moderator, Copyright legislative reforms (Brazil, Canada, India, South Africa), 29th IPA (International Publishers Association) Congress, Cape Town, South Africa (June 2012)
- Panelist, “Beyond Licensing” at Suffolk University Law School, Boston, November 2010 (co-sponsored by CCC)
- Panelist, “The Digital Marketplace after the Google Settlement” at the International Publishers Association Copyright Seminar (Abu Dhabi, February 2010)
- Panelist, “Google and Friends: The New World of Digital Libraries, Questions and Implications”, Academic Publishing in Europe (APE), Berlin, January 2010
- Workshop participant, “Developing a standard disclosure and conflict policy for scientific journals” organized by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington DC, July 2008
- Panelist, “Public Access to Research: Grappling with this Megatrend”, CESSE (Council of Engineering & Scientific Society Executives) annual meeting, July 2007, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- Participant/panelist, IS2K7 (Internet and Society) conference, Berkman Center, Harvard Law, May-June 2007
- “International Public Policy Issues”, AAP/PSP Association of American Publishers/ Professional Scholarly Publishers division) annual conference, Washington, D.C., February 2007
- Panelist, “Copyright- Current Issues and Recent Developments”, AAP/PSP annual conference, February 2006
- Panelist, “Ownership, Copyright & Archiving”, Future of Research Information Chain, the Role of Publishers and Learned Societies, Budapest, Hungary, ALLEA, March 2005
- Panelist, “Science Journals, Science Journalism & Disclosure”, Integrity in Science Conference, July 2004, Washington, DC (Center for Science in the Public Interest)
- Panelist, “Rights Licensing”, Digital Rights Management Strategies 2004, New York, April 2004
- Moderator, “If Your Book Was a Song” (Napster), AAP/PSP annual conference, February 2002
- Participant/presenter, National Research Council, Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data (2001)
- “Publisher considerations: digital archiving and electronic business”, for the conference on “Consolidating the European Library Space”, Luxembourg, November 1999
- “Legal Considerations in Commercial Database Production”, Building and Owning Biotechnology Databases conference, organized by Biotechnology Information Strategic Forum with support from DG XII of the European Commission, Purmerend, the Netherlands, September 1998
- Panelist, “Overview of the Present Situation of Centralized Management of Rights”, WIPO International Forum on the Exercise and Management of Copyright in the Face of the Challenges of Digital Technology, Sevilla, Spain, May 1997