ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


October 1995/657

Washington 
Hotline

Lynne E. Bradley

More news on 
copyright issues
“Intellectual Property and 
the National Information In­
frastructure,” a 238-p age 
White Paper was unveiled 
on September 5 by Com­
merce Secretary Ron Brown 
and Commissioner o f Pat­
ents and Trademarks Bruce 
Lehman. The paper builds 
on a draft Green Paper cir­
culated for comments in July 
by the Working Group on 
Intellectual Property, which 
was formed to assess the protection o f intellec­
tual property in a digital age and to recom­
mend changes to the Copyright Act where nec­
essary. ALA has monitored and participated in 
this Green Paper-White Paper process since its 
beginnings.

ALA submitted to the Working Group for­
mal comments on the Green Paper which 
strongly challenged several points in the draft 
document. One critical area o f concern was the 
elimination o f the “First Sale Doctrine” for elec­
tronic works, and the requirement that the pur­
pose for transmission o f a work be assessed in 
order to determine whether it was “distributed” 
or “performed” for purposes o f the Copyright 
Act. ALA also urged the Working Group to make 
clear that libraries and others may freely use 
digital techniques for the preservation o f copy­
righted materials.

The White Paper appears to be focused al­
most totally on the information infrastructure’s 
commercial potential. ALA will continue to urge 
that the information infrastructure can and 
should be used to expand markets, but that 
such expansion must be accompanied by the 
expansion o f equitable public access to infor­
mation for students, scholars, small business­
men and women, and people who cannot af­
ford their own computers.

The White Paper also appears to be based 
on the premise that the only legal protection o f 
copyrighted works— and the resultant restric­
tions on their use— will spur creativity. ALA has 
long rejected this argument, noting the critical 
role that writers’ and others’ access to material

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

has played in the production 
o f new copyrighted works.

Commissioner Lehman 
commented that great ad­
vances will continue to be 
made in the ability to license 
the use o f copyrighted ma
terial online, and he urged 
publishers to w ork with 
schools and libraries to es­
tablish suitable licensing ar­
rangements. ALA continues 
to advocate that regardless 
o f the “usability” and preva­
lence o f licensing technol­

ogy, established exceptions from copyright re­
strictions for libraries and the codified concept 
o f fair use are not undermined by such innova
tion.

Additionally, the White Paper is conspicu­
ously silent on the need to clarify how libraries 
and schools may use digital technology to ex­
pand distance learning opportunities (especially 
for rural Americans) by expanding current in­
terlibrary loan options and creating more ac­
cessible “digital libraries” and “electronic re­
serve rooms” for far-flung students. Equitable 
public access to information, now guaranteed 
by current copyright law, can and should ex­
pand with the size o f the market for copyrighted 
works on the information superhighway. There 
should not be an exclusively “bottom line-com
mercial interest” approach to this whole issue.

ALA will continue to scrutinize the White 
Paper and looks forward to working with the 
ACRL community on this critical issue. Adam 
M. Eisgrau has recently been hired as the legis­
lative counsel in the Washington Office with 
major responsibilities for intellectual property 
and copyright issues and w e appreciate his 
contributions to this article. He can be reached 
at our new offices at (202) 628-8410 or by 
e-mail: ame@alawash.org.

To receive a copy o f the White Paper send 
requests to: “Intellectual Property and the Nil,” 
c/o Terri Southwick, Office o f Legislative and 
Congressional Affairs, Patent and Trademark 
Office, Box 4, Washington, DC 20231. The text 
is also available electronically on the Net: www. 
uspto.gov, or by using gopher or telnet to reach 
iipf.doc.gov. For more information call the 
Patent and Trademark Office’s Public Affairs 
Office at (703) 305-8341. ■

mailto:ame@alawash.org
mailto:leb@alawash.org