ALAWON v6n67 (August 1, 1997) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v6n67 ================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 67 ISSN 1069-7799 August 1, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (154 lines) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROPOSALS PROLIFERATE _________________________________________________________________ INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROPOSALS PROLIFERATE Even as Congress winds down for its August recess, the national debate over how best to update copyright law to reflect the invention and use of digital network technology was shifted into high gear this week with several related developments of note. ALAWON readers will recall that ALA, and its partners in IFLA and the Digital Future Coalition played a prominent role in last December's World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty negotiations in Geneva. For the past eight months, the Clinton Administration has deferred transmittal of the WIPO treaties to the Senate while the nature and scope of legislation to implement them was hotly debated within the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and at high levels within the Department of Commerce. In recent months, Congressional leaders and proponents of rapid adoption of the treaties have called with increasing vehemence on the Administration to permit the domestic digital copyright debate to begin in earnest by transmitting the treaties, and its proposals to implement them, to Congress before the end of this month. On Monday of this week the President complied, as expected, formally sending two treaties to the Senate for referral to the Committee on Foreign Relations led by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE). They were accompanied by associated "implementing legislation," which will be referred to the Judiciary Committees of both houses of Congress. As anticipated, the Administration's implementing bill was promptly introduced in the House on Tuesday as H.R. 2281 by the senior members of the full Judiciary Committee -- Reps. Henry Hyde (R-IL) and John Conyers (D-MI) -- and of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property -- Reps. Howard Coble (R-NC) and Barney Frank (D-MA). Although the legislation was not immediately introduced in the Senate, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) -- the Judiciary Committee's most senior Democrat -- entered a brief statement into the July 29 Congressional Record characterizing the Administration's proposals as "an excellent start for moving forward," and indicating that he and Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) were reviewing the bill for possible introduction later this week. While comparatively limited in scope, this year's Administration bill is substantively very similar to its "White Paper" proposals in the last Congress, which were strongly opposed in their original form by ALA and its fellow members of the Digital Future Coalition. Specifically, as H.R. 2441 did last year, H.R. 2281 would make it illegal to manufacture, import or distribute "any technology, product, service, device, component or part thereof that . . . is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing" any technological system employed effectively to control access to copyrighted material. >From ALA's perspective (and that of many other library, educational, and consumer organizations, as well as electronic device manufacturers) the basic flaws in the Administration's approach remains that it outlaws the manufacture of beneficial, multi-purpose devices (such as personal computers and VCRs) needed by the public to exercise "fair use" and other privileges for the use of copyrighted material protected and encouraged under current copyright law. Moreover, unlike last year's proposals, violators of the bill just proposed would be subject to both civil fines and criminal penalties. H.R. 2180 INTRODUCED - ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDER LIABILITY In related news, legislation also was recently introduced pertaining to the second "digital copyright" issue which commanded the lion's share of legislators' and the public's attention last year: on-line service provider liability. As previously reported, many information proprietors wish to hold liable for copyright infringement any party (including a school or library) who provides network facilities to someone who misuses them to violate a proprietor's copyright, or who provides a link to a site on the Internet where infringing material may be accessed. This matter was the subject of intense negotiation in the last Congress and much discussion at the WIPO treaty conference last December. To begin this year's debate, Chairman Howard Coble (R-NC) of the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee has authored H.R. 2180. Although still under study, the bill appears to represent a constructive and improved starting point from which to commence negotiations on this critical issue in September. While no OSP liability bill is pending in the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) scheduled a hearing on the subject for July 29 at which Prof. Robert Oakley of Georgetown University Law Center and the Director of its library was to have testified on behalf of 17 major national library and educational organizations. The hearing was postponed, however, to permit Committee members to attend the funeral of the late Justice William Brennan. It is expected to be held shortly after Congress returns from its August recess. STAY TUNED - OTHER IP ISSUES THIS FALL Finally, in addition to the anti-circumvention issue at the center of the Administration's new bill, and the on-line service provider controversy addressed by Rep. Coble, several issues championed last year by ALA and the DFC are expected to take center-stage in the digital copyright debate when Congress reconvenes. These vital matters concern how best to defend and update the Fair Use and First Sale Doctrines on which so much research and library lending itself are based, permit educators to take full advantage of computers in the classroom, and enable librarians and archivists to use the latest technology to preserve deteriorating works. There clearly will be a full agenda on intellectual property issues for library supporters this fall. For more information on the digital copyright debate and its tremendous importance to libraries and the public they serve, please consult the ALA Washington Office website at http://www.ala.org/washoff and the Digital Future Coalition's home page at http://www.dfc.org/dfc. Specific questions also may be addressed to Adam Eisgrau, the ALA Washington Office's Legislative Counsel, at 800-941-8478. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Adam M. Eisgrau Claudette W. Tennant All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================