On 10/03/2008, Andrew Gray shimgray@gmail.com wrote:
"Redistribution rights" is probably the key phrase here - without explicitly saying so, that seems to be the same sort of restriction as SciFinder places on the user. It just makes the lookup process no-charge...
If they have in fact taken care only to target people who've expressly made such an agreement, that's somewhat less objectionable, even if it's quite possibly a bad thing for science.
If they were caught attempting to intimidate third parties from recording numbers they knew of, or fourth parties from creating lists from numbers noted by the third parties, that would be an entirely different kettle of opprobrium.
- d.