ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 594/C&RL News Washington Hotline L y n n e E. B r a d le y U p d a t e o n c o p y r ig h t For academic libraries intel­ lectual property remains one o f the most critical issues pending before the final days o f the 104th Congress. Prior to adjourning around the end of September, the 104th will have acted on sev­ eral major copyright initia­ tives including: Copyright Term Exten­ sion Act (S. 483/H.R. 989). Legislation to extend copy­ right protection by 20 years remains to be acted upon prior to adjournment. As previously reported, the full Senate Judiciary Committee voted in June to report this bill to the full Senate. The bill remains before the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Significantly, the version of the legislation approved by the Senate Committee included a preliminary version of a so-called “library ex­ emption” from the 20-year extension under specified circumstances. In the report accom­ panying the legislation, Senators Paul Simon (DTL) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) made clear they would not support the legislation unless the library exemption was modified in a man­ ner mutually acceptable to the library, educa­ tional, and proprietary communities o r reflected ALA-backed recommendations made to Con­ gress in June by Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters. ALA has continued efforts to achieve a ne­ gotiated resolution to ensure that the final ver­ sion the Copyright Term Extension Act placed before the House and Senate includes an ap­ propriately balanced exemption for librar­ ies, archives, and nonprofit educational in­ stitutions. NII Copyright Protection Act (S.1284/ H.R. 2441). After three unsuccessful attempts by the House’s Courts and Intellectual Prop­ erty Subcommittee to mark up this controver­ sial legislation and an “indefinite postponement” of what would have been the Senate Judiciary Committee’s second hearing on this bill, the NII Copyright Protection Act is widely regarded Lynne E. Bradley is deputy executive director of ALA’s Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org. by staff on both sides o f the Hill to be dead in this Con­ gress. However, copyright pro­ tection does not end with Congress. The U.S. delega­ tion to the World Intellectual P rop erty O rganization (W IP O ) continues to strongly advocate adoption of comparable proposals in an international treaty to be forged at Geneva’s three- week Diplomatic Confer­ ence in December. ALA con­ tinues to work with the Digital Future Coalition and other like-minded groups here and abroad to urge international delegates to the confer­ ence to defer action on the “Digital Agenda” until an international consensus on how inter­ national copyright laws should deal with the complex and evolving issues and industries. ALA members are strongly encouraged to keep close tabs on this critical matter through the Digital Future Coalition’s Web site at http: //www.dfc.org/dfc or by calling Adam Eisgrau, ALA’s legislative counsel in the Washington Of­ fice, at (800) 941-8478. International support­ ers who share copyright protection concerns should also contact ALA’s legislative counsel for more information. Omnibus Patent Act (S.1961). Introduced in the Senate by Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in July, this pending legis­ lation would make a number o f changes in patent law, but these changes would not di­ rectly impact ALA members. As previously re­ ported, the 140-page package includes a pro­ posal to create a new, fee-funded government corporation called the Intellectual Property Organization (IPO). IPO, headed by a presi­ dential appointee responsible to the secretary o f commerce, would replace both the existing Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and the Library of Congress’ Copyright Office. It is unclear if a hearing on the Omnibus Patent Act will take place before the end of the 104th Congress. ALA and other major library associations have opposed previous efforts to divorce the Copyright Office from the Library of Congress. Should a serious effort be made to advance the IPO proposal, the Washington Office will work to assure that all members of http://www.dfc.org/dfc mailto:leb@alawash.org October 1996/595 Congress understand ALA’s long-standing op­ position to any measure that would jeopardize the continued growth and comprehensiveness o f the library’s collection. Copyright Clarifications Act (H.R. 1861). This “technical corrections” package contains proposed statutory language that will have the unintended effect of precluding a necessary national debate about whether “ephemeral” reproductions of digital works in the tempo­ rary memory of computers are “copies” within the meaning of the Copyright Act. This issue is critical to libraries, educational institutions in every state, and those who build and provide access to the NII. ALA and other major library organizations are recommending that text o f the proposed statute and accompanying report be amended to refer to temporary “reproductions,” rather than “copies.” In addition, the proposed legis­ lation should be amended to include a non- controversial provision endorsed by the regis­ ter o f copyrights to allow libraries to more effectively use digital technology to preserve crumbling works of vital interest to scholars, students, and national heritage. “Multimedia Guideline.” The Consortium o f College and University Media Centers (CCUMC), in conjunction with many major copyright “proprietor” industry organizations and others, may circulate an agreement for the “fair use” o f copyrighted works in multimedia projects prepared by educators and students. This document has not been endorsed by major educational and library organizations and some have specifically rejected it, such as the Association of Research Libraries. Many others are conducting a careful review of the draft at this time. Accordingly, it is premature to refer to or endorse CCUMC’s “multimedia guideline” or any similar document in the legislative his­ tory of any measure adopted by the current Congress. Full text o f the draft “Fair Use Guide­ lines for Educational Multimedia” is available at http://www.lib.virginia.edu/dmmc/Copy- right/fairuse.html. Again, we emphasize that this has not been endorsed by the library and re­ lated education communities. ■ C& RL N e w s 30th an n iversary quiz What do you recall read­ ing in C&RL News the past 30 years? To celebrate the News’ 30th anniversary, the Editorial Board and editors of C&RL News have written a series of questions based on news and articles pub­ lished since its inception in 1966. Five ques­ tions (and answers) will be published each month to help you wend your way through the past 30 years of academic librarianship as reported by C&RL News. We hope you have as much fun answer­ ing these questions as we did writing them. If you have a question you’d like considered for the quiz please send your suggestion to Mary Ellen Davis at medavis@ala.org. 1. What was the median salary paid to a public services librarian at a public aca­ demic institution in 1987? 2. In 1993, C&RL News published its first article reviewing Internet sources. What field did these resources cover? 3. What college is featured in an article promoting library orientation for college secretarial staff? 4. What is BAMBAM? 5. 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