Subject: Copyright legislation -- info & call for support
patricem@RTK.NET
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 12:44:57 -0500
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 12:44:57 -0500 From: patricem@RTK.NET Subject: Copyright legislation -- info & call for support To: roundtable@cni.org References: <Pine.SUN.3.91-FP.980409120600.16515A-100000@cap1.capaccess.org> Message-Id: <Chameleon.892141255.patrice@patrice.rtknet.org>
Below are two items about copyright legislation:
I. from Page Miller is a summary (which I have slightly reformatted) of
the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on April 2nd on a draft bill and
a brief presentation of Sen. Ashcroft's alternative bill.
II. from ALA is a call to urge your Members to co-sponsor Sen.
Ashcroft's bill (S. 1146) and Reps. Boucher & Campbell's bill (H.R. 3048).
Patrice
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Patrice McDermott
patricem@rtk.net
OMB Watch/Public Access Working Group
Date: 04/09/98
Time: 12:44:57
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I.
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Subject: NCC Washington Update, Vol 4, #13, April 8, 1998 (fwd)
NCC Washington Update, vol. 4, #13, April 8, 1998
by Page Putnam Miller, Director of the National Coordinating
Committee for the Promotion of History <pagem@capaccess.org>
1. Senate Judiciary Committee Considers Digital Copyright Legislation --
On April 2 the Senate Judiciary Committee met and discussed digital
copyright legislation. The discussion centered on a draft bill that has
not yet been introduced which will probably be titled "The Digital
Millennium Copyright Act."
Indications are that the draft bill has two key components.
One part deals with the implementation of the World Intellectual
Property Organization treaties and is very similar to H.R.2281, the
Administration's bill that was recently reported out of the House
Judiciary Committee.
The other portion addresses on-line service provider liability and
includes the agreement, discussed on April 1 at the House Judiciary
Committee mark-up, which reconciles the concerns of on-line service
providers, the computer companies, the commercial content owners,
and the telephone companies.
Although the Senate Judiciary Committee is still working on the draft, it
appears that this draft bill is very narrow and does not address the
concerns of scholars, archivists, and librarians who have emphasized the
need for a comprehensive copyright bill for the digital age that addresses
issues such as distance learning and would protect the legitimate concerns
of copyright owners by focusing on "infringing conduct" instead of using
"circumvention devices."
Senator John Ashcroft (R-MO), who has introduced a comprehensive bill,
S. 1146, the Digital Copyright Clarification and Technology Education Act,
which is supported by the library and scholarly communities, is trying to
get portions of his bill included in the draft bill. Ashcroft has written
to Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
indicating that he would rather have no bill at all than one that does not
address educational, archival, and library issues. The Senate Judiciary
Committee has scheduled a meeting on April 23 to deal with the draft bill.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
NCC invites you to redistribute the NCC Washington Updates.
A complete backfile of these reports is maintained by H-Net.
See World Wide Web: http://h-net.msu.edu/~ncc/
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II.
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ALAWON Volume 7, Number 39
ISSN 1069-7799 April 8, 1998
American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
COPYRIGHT MESSAGE: COSPONSOR CRITICAL COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION
H.R. 3048 AND S. 1146
ASK YOUR SENATORS TO COSPONSOR S. 1146: Library supporters
are also urged to ask their Senators to cosponsor Sen. John
Ashcroft's (R-MO) Digital Copyright Clarification and
Technology Education Act (S. 1146). S. 1146 is a bill to
revise the Copyright Act which appropriately balances the
protection of intellectual property and the provision of
library and other access to it.
ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO COSPONSOR H.R. 3048: More than 30
Representatives from both parties and every sector of the
political spectrum have already agreed to cosponsor H.R.
3048, the Digital Copyright Era Enhancement Act, by Reps.
Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Tom Campbell (R-CA). Please ask your
Representative to cosponsor H.R. 3048 also.
H.R. 3048 is strongly supported by ALA, the Digital Future
Coalition, and librarians nationwide who have called and
faxed their Representatives seeking support for this
landmark bill. Those efforts are paying off, so please keep
those contacts coming.
For additional information, see the ALA Washington Office
web site at http://www.ala.org/washoff/ip.html or the
Digital Future Coalition web site at http://www.dfc.org/.
For further information contact ALA Legislative Counsel Adam
M. Eisgrau at the ALA Washington Office, 800-941-8478 or
email: ame@alawash.org.
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