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H.R. 2652--"Collections of Information Antipiracy Act"
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Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 15:27:09 -0400
From: Lauren Gelman
[...]
March 5, 1998
Representative Howard Coble Chairman House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property 2239 Rayburn House Office Building United States House of Reprsentatives Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Coble,
We are writing to express our concern about H.R. 2652, the "Collections of Information Antipiracy Act." The Association for Computing (ACM) recognizes the need to protect investments made in large data collections. However, the proposed legislation fails to recognize the legitimate needs of academic, professional, scientific, and ordinary users of data. Therefore, we believe that the legislation, as currently drafted, is generally not in the interests of the computing profession or of the general public.
The ACM is the largest, international professional association of computer scientists with 60,000 members in the United States. We have a particular interest in the development of intellectual property policies that serve a broad mission. We believe that such policies should ensure the continued vibrancy of not-for-profit publishers, students, researchers, and the general public, even as they seek to protect commercial investments. Sensible legislative proposals should promote the "Progress of Science and the Useful Arts" by allowing exemptions for public-good uses in libraries, universities, and laboratories. They should not establish perpetual protection for data while eliminating the "fair use" upon which the research community is heavily dependent.
ACM has developed considerable expertise in the copyright issues associated with the creation of electronic databases. The ACM publishes many journals, some of which include research results derived from data collection. Additionally, ACM has an on-line searchable database. Under the proposed legislation, the extraction of a substantial unauthorized "use in commerce" of the data compilations will be prohibited if it would "harm" the original compiler's market. Thus, the owner of the data compilation will have the authority to determine which users may access the data if more than a "substantial" amount of data from the compilation is requested. This limitation on the use of data is contrary to the traditional scientific research model. In the U.S., data collections are routinely reused and revised in the course of scientific and academic research without royalties being exchanged. The bill also includes an overly broad definition of what constitutes "information" and no definition of "substantiality." This, too, could have a chilling effect on academic research and publication.
The fair use provisions in H.R. 2652 fall far short of the exemptions necessary to permit researchers to verify others' results, educators to demonstrate models in classrooms, scientists to make use of government databases, and other traditionally protected uses. Such "full and open" use of data is indispensable to effective and accurate research. The fair use provisions allow only extractions which do "not harm the actual or potential market for the product." "Full and open" is defined in the scientific community as data and information derived from publicly funded research which is made available with as few restrictions as possible, on a nondiscriminatory basis, for no more than the cost of reproduction and dissemination. The inadequate fair use provisions in H.R. 2652 do not meet this definition. Furthermore, this also impacts citizens, who currently have the right to full and open access to data from databases created by their government and by organizations funded by the government, no matter if someone else has also published the data.
H.R. 2652 would create proprietary rights in compilations of scientific information which are now in the public domain; thus, unauthorized extraction or use of this information, of the kind which scientists are accustomed to make today, would appear to harm the market for the compilation as a matter of definition. For example, all the names and numbers registered with NSF's contractors (Network Solutions and ISI) pertaining to the Internet are freely accessible. The public can access such data for any legal reasons, including operating Internet routers and directory services. The extraction of data from this compilation could be limited by H.R. 2652. Naturally, this principle extends to all sorts of financial and other data which major publishers resell.
We recognize it is important to protect investments made in data collection. However, we do not believe it has been demonstrated that further legislation is necessary. The "Collections of Information Antipiracy Act" is overly broad in its application of the misappropriation doctrine and will affect both the computing community and scientific research generally. We believe that there are alternative technical approaches that may better serve the interests of users of new digital technologies. We would be very pleased to work with you on a study of these issues.
We would look forward to working with you on this effort. If you have any questions, please contact Lauren Gelman at 202/544-4859.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Barbara Simons Chair, U.S. Public Policy Committee The Association For Computing Machinery
cc: House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property Rep. Henry J. Hyde, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee Rep. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives Rep. Richard Armey, Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives Rep. Richard Gephardt, Minority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman House Science Committee Rep. George Brown, Ranking Member, House Science Committee Rep. Vernon Ehlers, Vice Chairman, House Science Committee Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Ranking Minority Member, Senate Judiciary Committee
/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Association for Computing, + http://www.acm.org/usacm/ Office of U.S. Public Policy * +1 202 544 4859 (tel) 666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Suite 302 B * +1 202 547 5482 (fax) Washington, DC 20003 USA + gelman@acm.org
To subscribe to the ACM Washington Update, send e-mail to: listserv@acm.org with "subscribe WASHINGTON-UPDATE name" (no quotes) in the body of the message. ```
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