In a bid to lift restrictions on publishing works by authors in embargoed countries such as Cuba, Iran, and Sudan, a group of US publishers and authors’ associations is suing the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The suit, filed on 27 September, says OFAC’s regulations violate the Trading with the Enemy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and the First Amendment.
The suit was filed by the Association of American Publishers professional and scholarly publishing division (AAP/PSP), the Association of American University Presses, PEN American Center, and Arcade Publishing. It follows OFAC’s ruling from earlier this year, in which the peer-review practices of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers were deemed legal (see Physics Today, Physics Today 0031-9228 57 5 2004 28 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1768666 May 2004, page 28 ).
Despite that ruling, other publishers are wary that the door remains open to heavy fines and prison...
