Copyright update from ALA-WO
ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 15, Number 1
January 3, 2006
Copyright Update
1. DMCA Section 1201 Rulemaking
The Library Copyright Alliance (ALA, American Association of Law Libraries, Association of Research Libraries, Medical Library Association and Special Libraries Association) and the Music Library Association filed comments on December 1 with the U.S. Copyright Office, requesting exemptions to the copyright law's prohibition on circumvention of technological locks that control access to copyrighted works.
Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides for exemptions from the prohibition on circumvention for users of "classes of works" who would be "adversely affected by virtue of such prohibition in their ability to make non-infringing uses" of those works. In their comments, the LCA and the Music Library Association requested two new exemptions plus a renewal of the four exemptions granted in 2003 by the Librarian of Congress. The exemptions from the anti-circumvention provision will be announced in October 2006.
2. U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Appeal
ALA, AALL, MLA and SLA filed an amici curiae ("friends of the court") brief on November 17, in the U.S. Supreme Court in a copyright case, Psihoyos v. National Geographic Enterprises. The brief urged the Court to grant a petition for certiorari (appeal) and to affirm a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in favor of the National Geographic Society (NGS).
The case concerns whether publishers of collective works can re-publish those works in a digital format without seeking permission of authors or other contributors. The Second Circuit ruled that the copyright law allows NGS to re-publish the entire print version of the National Geographic magazine from 1888 to 1996 in a searchable format (such as CD-ROM or DVD).
On December 12, however, the Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari. The National Geographic Society had wanted the Supreme Court to hear the case, even though the NGS won in the appeals court in the Second Circuit. NGS had hoped the Court would rule in favor of NGS and, by doing so, resolve a confusing situation where two federal courts of appeals (the other being the Eleventh Circuit) have issued conflicting opinions about this provision of copyright law.
3. Congress Holds Hearing on Fair Use
On November 16, the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing entitled, "Fair Use: Its Effects on Consumers and Industry." The lively hearing, convened by the Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, lasted more than two hours and elicited views from eight witnesses on fair use, copyright law, and technology. Prue Adler of the Association of Research Libraries spoke on behalf of the Library Copyright Alliance (ALA, ARL, AALL, MLA and SLA) to explain to the Subcommittee why fair use is so critical to libraries.
4. Library Groups Applaud CURES Bill as Speeding Access to Vital Biomedical Research
ALA and its partners in a coalition of national library associations, representing more than 80,000 information specialists, praised the recent introduction of legislation to establish the American Center for Cures within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bill, S. 2104, includes a provision that would help to make taxpayer-funded biomedical research available to all potential users – an important goal for the library groups. Introduced on December 14th by Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Thad Cochran (R-MS), the bipartisan "American Center for Cures Act of 2005" would expedite development of new therapies and cures for life-threatening diseases and would require free public access to articles stemming from federally funded research.
5. Taxpayer Advocacy Group Lauds Call By NIH Advisory Panel For Mandatory Public Access To Research
The Alliance for Taxpayer Access, a national coalition of over 60 library, non-profit, and patient advocacy groups, issued a statement on November 22, 2005, praising the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Working Group (PAWG) for recommending that researchers be required to deposit published articles resulting from NIH funding in PubMed Central (PMC), NIH's online database of journal literature.
ALA, ACRL, AALL, ARL, MLA and SLA are all members of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, a coalition of stakeholders who support reforms that will make publicly funded research accessible to the public.
Are you someone who finds copyright issues to be interesting and challenging? Then please check out ALA's Copyright Advisory Network. This Web site is a new way for librarians to learn about copyright and to get help when they have copyright troubles. The purpose of this site is to encourage librarians to discuss copyright concerns, and seek feedback and advice from fellow librarians and copyright specialists.
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