ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Washington Hotline

Lynne E. Bradley

Lynne E. Bradley is deputy executive director of ALA’s Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org.

Intellectual property bills

A full agenda on intellectual property and other issues is expected for library supporters this fall.

The president finally sent to the Senate two treaties negotiated in December 1996 at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) meetings. The administration deferred transmittal of the treaties while the nature and scope of legislation to implement them was hotly debated within the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and within the Department of Commerce.

At the same time, the president sent “implementing legislation,” now referred to the Judiciary Committees of both houses of Congress. The administration’s implementing bill was introduced in the House as H.R. 2281 by 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). Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) are reviewing the bill for possible introduction in the Senate.

The bill is similar to the “White Paper” proposals in the last Congress, strongly opposed in their original form by ALA and other members of the Digital Future Coalition (DFC). This year’s bill 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. It would also subject violators to civil fines and criminal penalties.

ALA and many library, educational, and consumer organizations, as well as electronic device manufacturers, contend that basic flaws in the administration’s approach remain because it would outlaw the manufacture of multipurpose devices (personal computers, VCRs, etc.) needed by users to exercise “fair use” and other privileges for the use of materials protected under current copyright law.

Debate on online service providers, liability continues with the introduction of H.R. 2180. 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. H.R. 2180 appears to be a better starting point for negotiations.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) will conduct a hearing this fall on the subject, at which Professor Robert Oakley of Georgetown University Law Center and the director of its library will testify on behalf of 17 major national library and educational organizations. Debate also continues on how best to defend and update the fair use and first sale doctrines, on which so much research and library lending itself are based. For more information consult the ALA Washington Office Web site at http://www.ala.org/washoff or contact Adam Eisgrau at the ALA Washington Office at (800) 941-8478.

FY98 appropriations and higher education

House and Senate Appropriations Committees issued their bills (H.R. 2264 and S. 10619 and reports (H. Rept. 105-205 and S. Rept. 105-58) on the FY98 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations.

The House would increase the college workstudy program to $860 million. “The Committee considers this program to be among the highest priorities … and has limited funds for lower priority programs elsewhere in order to increase funding …” (H. Rept. 105-205). The Senate bill proposes $830 million, the same as current funding. The administration requested $857 million for this program. The Senate report notes “the Committee believes that the community service requirements, as part of the student’s overall academic program, are especially compatible with the administration’s America Reads initiative.” The House report notes that the administration’s decision to waive the institutional matching requirements associated with certain community service, such as the proposed America Reads Challenge, “is estimated by the Department to result in a reduction of 15,000 students served and the loss of $16,000,000 to the program in matching funds during the 1997-1998 school year.”

For educational research and statistics, the House bill proposes $244.2 million, the Senate bill $210.7 million. Current funding is $206.2 million. The administration requested $239-2 million for research institutes, including those in postsecondary education, libraries, and lifelong learning research, the National Center for Education Statistics, the National Library of Education, and the ERIC system. ■