Our great leaders on the Hill are at it again. This time with
legislation that would grant copyright ownership in databases of
facts (another encroachment on the public domain.....) See below...
Diane Zorich
IP SIG Chair
Status: U
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 10:57:58 -0800
Reply-To: Visual Resources Association <[email protected]>
Sender: Visual Resources Association <[email protected]>
From: Maryly Snow <[email protected]>
Subject: dangerous database legislation HR 3261
Comments: To: Art Libraries Society Discussion List <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Why is the proposed database protection legislation dangerous? Because
FACTS, which have always been in the public domain, could become
intellectual property, meaning you might have to pay for access to
FACTS. Who won the world series in 2002? What was the name of the
hurricane in 1994 that caused damage in Florida (made up question). Who
is the architect of the Great Court at the British Museum? As a creator
and manager of an important architecture & allied arts database, SPIRO,
I don't believe that this legislation is necessary. While I certainly
don't want anyone to grab all my SPIRO data to create their own
database, taking all the credit and charging admission to it, I think
the courts could handle such an egregious theft without the proposed HR
3261. Most troubling to me are the philosophical underpinnings of the
legislation, because, if passed, this legislation would extend the
increasing privatization of America to information, hammering yet
another nail in the coffin of the common weal.
Read what ALA's Washington Office has to say about this legislation.
Maryly Snow
SPIRO database creator
VRA Intellectual Property Rights Committee Chair
Member, VRD, Art Libraries Society of North America
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ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 13, Number 9
February 19, 2004
In This Issue: ACTION ALERT: Database Protection Legislation needs
immediate grassroots action!
H.R. 3261, the Database and Collections of Information
Misappropriations Act, has the support of House leadership and is
gaining momentum. On February 12, the House Judiciary Committee reported
out the bill with amendments and referred it to the House Energy and
Commerce Committee.=A0 Energy and Commerce Committee has until March 12,
2004 to act on the bill. See the bill at www.thomas.loc.gov
It is crucial that library advocates with Representatives sitting on
the House Energy and Commerce Committee tell their Representatives it is
time to oppose this legislation.
H.R. 3261 would create what amounts to ownership rights in a wide
variety of data including facts. Despite opposition from the
libraries, an array of business concerns including the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce,
telecommunications, financial services and high technology
organizations, the House leadership has been committed to passing the
legislation.
Talking Points
* Despite years of negotiation, H.R. 3261 is not acceptable to
libraries and other opponents.
* H.R. 3261 is simply not necessary. Existing laws are adequate to
protect the interests of the database producers, who have yet to prove
that their businesses have suffered because of any failure in the law.
* H.R. 3261 gives broad protections to database producers and will lead
to reduced competition in the database market and increased costs to
libraries at a time when the cost of academic journals and access to
technical, scientific and medical information is already prohibitively
expensive for many libraries.
* H.R. 3261 is too vague and will add to uncertainty in the law and
increase the likelihood of litigation.
* The narrow exemption for nonprofit educational, scientific and
research institutions is inadequate because of the ambiguous language in
the bill. Also, the exemption could be overridden by terms in
"shrink-wrap" or non-negotiated contracts.
* H.R. 3261 makes it permissible, in effect, to copyright facts - a
practice never allowed under copyright law. By doing so, the bill
could give database producers both retroactive and perpetual rights to
a wide
variety of information.
These talking points are also available online with contact information
for your Representatives. Go to ALA's Contact Congress legislative
action center. www.capwiz.com/ala.
E-Mail or fax the Representatives on the Energy and Commerce Committee
TODAY!
Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee:
Arizona
John B. Shadegg
California
Christopher Cox
George Radanovich
Mary Bono
Darrell Issa
Henry A. Waxman
Anna G. Eshoo
Lois Capps
Hilda L. Solis
Colorado
Diana DeGette
Florida
Michael Bilirakis
Cliff Stearns
Peter Deutsch
Jim Davis
Georgia
Nathan Deal
Charlie Norwood
Idaho
C.L. "Butch" Otter
Illinois
John Shimkus
Bobby L. Rush
Jan Schakowsky
Indiana
Steve Buyer
=A0
Kentucky
Ed Whitfield
Louisiana
W.J. "Billy" Tauzin,=A0 Chairman
Christopher John
Maine
Tom Allen
Maryland
Albert R. Wynn
Missouri
Karen McCarthy
Massachusetts
Edward J. Markey
Michigan
Fred Upton
Mike Rogers
John D. Dingell, Ranking Member
Bart Stupak
Mississippi
Charles "Chip" Pickering
Missouri
Karen McCarthy
Nebraska
Lee Terry
New Hampshire
Charles F. Bass
New Jersey
Mike Ferguson
Frank Pallone Jr.
New Mexico
Heather Wilson
New York
Vito Fossella
Edolphus Towns
Eliot L. Engel
North Carolina
Richard Burr,Vice Chairman
Ohio
Paul E. Gillmor
Sherrod Brown
Oklahoma
John Sullivan
Oregon
Greg Walden
Pennsylvania
James C. Greenwood
Joseph R. Pitts
Michael F. Doyle
Tennessee
Bart Gordon
Texas
Ralph M. Hall
Joe Barton
Gene Green
Charles A. Gonzalez
Virginia
Rick Boucher
=A0
Wyoming=A0
Barbara Cubin
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