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House bills affecting copyright

I recently examined all the current bills respecting copyright for a
copyright talk I gave at a recent conference.  I concluded that several of
the pending bills are overbroad in that they prohibit certain conduct in
all cases, whether or not that conduct would fall with current exceptions
to the Copyright Act that protect users rights to information.  This is
true of H.R. 2281.  However, I would recommend support for H.R. 3048, the
Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act. It clarifies fair use and first
sale exceptions with respect to digital transmission and reproduction,
strengthens the library and archival exemptions, provides exceptions for
ephemeral digital copies and for distance learning, contains a strong
copyright preemption provision that isn't limited by freedom of contract,
and implements the WIPO Copyright Treaty in a manner that protects users'
rights to defeat technological protections for legitimate purposes.  This
is a much better bill than H.R. 2281, which abrogates users' rights to
public domain materials and fair uses of copyrighted materials. 

Incidentally, the other bill recently mentioned here, H.R. 2652, the
database protection bill, raises additional concerns about users' rights,
because it allows database vendors to defeat the "safe harbors" by using
take-it-or-leave-it licenses (e.g., click-on or shrink-wrap).  This bill
is supposed to implement provisions of the WIPO Database Treaty, but that
treaty has not been adopted, and even if it were, it's terms are much less
restrictive that H.R. 2652.  Thus, this bill is not only premature but
also overbroad, although I do not think it's quite as dangerous as H.R.
2281. Publishers insist that this legislation is necessary to preserve the
market for databases, but there's nothing to indicate that that market has
eroded or will erode under current law.  In fact, the market appears to be
flourishing. 

Just my opinion...

Terry Cullen
Electronic Services Librarian
Seattle University Law Library
950 Broadway Plaza
Tacoma, WA  98402-4470
253-591-7092





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