Copyright fight over NIH & PubMed

The Chronicle reports on the Sturm und Drang going on in the Congressional hearing over HR 6845, the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act: to amend title 17, United States Code, with respect to works connected to certain funding agreements ( TEXT , pdf.) The bill, introduced by John Conyers of Michigan, would curtail the National Institutes of Health's public-access policy that requires all NIH-funded researchers to submit electronic copies of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts to PubMed, a free online archive of biomedical and life-sciences journal articles, and that the material be made publicly available within 12 months of publication. The hearing is being held by the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.