Subject: Database Copyright Bill H.R. 2652 -- a debate
Curt Priest (cpriest@juno.com)
Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 11:12:23 EDT
To: ROUNDTABLE@CNI.ORG Subject: Database Copyright Bill H.R. 2652 -- a debate Message-Id: <19980522.111121.4239.5.cpriest@juno.com> From: cpriest@juno.com (Curt Priest) Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 11:12:23 EDT
W. Curtiss Priest, Ph.D.
Center for Information, Technology & Society
466 Pleasant Street
Melrose, MA 02176
Internet: bmslib@mitvma.mit.edu, Voice: 617-662-4044, FAX: 617-662-6882
This document may be distributed freely
May 22, 1998
An Open Discussion
with Government, Foundations, Non-profits
and Grassroots Efforts
The Will to Create the Future:
Information Highways, Economic Security, and Community
Public Issue #15:
"Database Copyright Bill H.R. 2652"
On May 4th the Electronic Frontier Foundation encouraged people to write
against H.R. 2652 (see below).
As our Center is generally concerned with any encroachment on "Fair Use"
and we have maintained contact with several Representatives including
Barney Frank of MA, we sent a letter to Mr. Frank's aide, Mr. Robert
Raven (see below).
We received a personal letter from Mr. Frank dated May 14th and
wish to share it with various lists, as we believe it contains
information important to the debate about H.R. 2652 and WIPO in
general.
In particular, we find that while Mr. Frank generally supports
our concern for "Fair Use," Mr. Frank believes it is necessary
to protect databases as called for in H.R. 2652.
***********************************************************************
Letter from Mr. Frank:
W. Curtiss Priest, Director
Center for Information, Technology & Society
466 Pleasant Street
Melrose, MA 02176
Dear Doctor Priest,
Thank you for contacting me about your concern about H.R. 2652. I
am afraid that we ultimately disagree about this legislation, in that I
have been convinced for some time that the Supreme Court overreached in
the Feist [underlined] decision, and that protections for compilations
of information threatened by that case should be otherwise protected,
and I have supported the misappropriation theory on which H.R. 2652
relies.
As to your concern about fair use, nothing in the legislation that
I have worked on and supported curtails the fair use limitation to
copyright in anyway. In fact, the bill as reported by the Judiciary
Committee on which I sit now explicitly says that "protection under this
chapter is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope,
duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in any
work of authorship that is contained or consists in whole or part of a
collection of information." The bill also now provides that "nothing in
this chapter shall affect rights, limitations, or remedies concerning
copyright...". Between the two I am convinced that fair use, a
copyright construct of both common and statutory law, is simply
unaffected by protection against misappropriation.
Sincerely,
[signature]
Barney Frank
BF/rr
**************************************************************************
Letter to Mr. Frank (Robert Raven):
May 6, 1998
As you may know, the Center for Information, Technology & Society
is vitally concerned with providing access to information to further
education, learning, and scientific progress.
I am co-author of the book "Technological Innovation for a Dynamic
Economy" (Pergamon Press, 1980).
We are extremely concerned about the loss of important "Fair Use"
parts of the 1976 Copyright Act. If we lose the ability to freely
transmit information in the public interest we will kill both
our educational process and our ability to transmit ideas critical
to technological innovation and commerce.
I'm contacting you to REJECT the so-called "Collections of Information
Antipiracy Act", H.R. 2652. This bill is missing key definitions and
creates new property rights in databases and the raw data contained in
them, at the expense of ALL citizens' rights to know and use plain facts
and information. This bill threatens fair use and freedom of speech and
press. The database industry has not proven any need for this
legislation, and it is simply yet another attempt to extend
copyright-like protection to public-domain material that can't be
copyrighted. The bill is not responsive to WIPO treaty language and it
provides for excessive and injust penalties. There is no need for this
legislation, and I urge you to REJECT H.R. 2652. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Priest
Dr. W. Curtiss Priest
Director
Center for Information, Technology & Society
466 Pleasant Street
Melrose, MA 02176
**************************************************************************
Announcement by EFF:
Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 21:04:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Stanton McCandlish <mech@eff.org>
Subject: EFFector 11.04: (corrected) ACTION ALERT: Database bill threat
Summary: 1) Act now to stop database protection bill to strip you of your
right to use public domain, uncopyrightable facts and information.
Precedence: list
To: effector@eff.org (effector mailing list)
[Apologies for the mistaken re-sending of EFFector 11.03 as if it were
11.04 a moment ago. Here is the correct alert.]
EFFector Online Newsletter
Vol. 11, No. 4, May 4, 1998 editor@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
IN THIS ISSUE
* IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT, APRIL 5 DEADLINE: CONTACT REPRESENTATIVES
TO OPPOSE DATABASE BILL
1. SUMMARY
2. IMMEDIATE ACTION TO TAKE
3. SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX
4. BACKGROUND
* EFF SUES TO OVERTURN NEW MEXICO NET CENSORSHIP LAW
* ADMINISTRIVIA
See http://www.eff.org for more information on EFF activities &
alerts!
_________________________________________________________________
IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT, MAY 5 DEADLINE
CONTACT REPRESENTATIVES TO OPPOSE DATABASE BILL
The Electronic Frontier Foundation May 4, 1998
Please distribute widely to appropriate forums, no later than May 15, 1998.
1. SUMMARY
* Latest news:
House "Collections of Information Antipiracy" bill would create a
new property right in databases and make criminal many uses of
uncopyrightable public-domain information without express
permission from a database supplier. Bill is on fast-track in the
House and dangerously close to passage!
* What You Can Do Now:
Follow the directions below and call/fax your own Representatives
Ask them to oppose expansion of rights to database holders without
clear proof that additional protections are needed and without
explicit explanation of how fair use will be protected. Explain
that no new legislation is needed, and that this bill in
particular is an assault on the rights of all citizens.
2. IMMEDIATE ACTION TO TAKE
Free speech supporters are asked to IMMEDIATELY contact their own
Representatives, as well as House leaders, and ask them to to vote
against the database bill, H.R. 2652, expected to pass or fail on the
House floor on May 5, 1998. This contact shouldn't take more than TWO
MINUTES per office.
Urge your Representatives to refrain from voting away your right to
know and use plain facts because some companies demand special
privileges to control and charge for the use of information.
Feel free to make use of the sample fax and phone "script" below.
(We regret that some readers, due to Net-related delays or for other
reasons, may not receive this alert in time to act. Sometimes Congress
moves quickly, and we have insufficient warning to issue an alert
early enough for all readers to receive it in time.)
LOOKING UP YOUR REPRESENTATIVE'S CONTACT INFO
See EFF's Contacting Congress factsheet at http://www.eff.org/congress
which provides links to places to look up who your legislator is if
necessary, and to obtain their phone and fax numbers. Please PHONE
first, FAX second. Time is short enough that some of the faxes may
simply not make it in time.
If you can spare a few extra minutes, try working your way down this
list of House leadership, as well as contacting your own Rep:
Party Last Name, First Name Voice Phone Fax
State/Dist
-----------------------------------------------------------------
R GA/06 Gingrich, Newt 1-202-225-4501 1-202-225-4656+
R TX/26 Armey, Richard 1-202-225-7772 1-202-226-8100+
D MO/03 Gephardt, Richard 1-202-225-2671 1-202-225-7452+
R TX/22 DeLay, Tom 1-202-225-5951 1-202-225-5241
D MI/10 Bonior, David 1-202-225-2106 1-202-226-1169
R OH/08 Boehner, John 1-202-225-6205 1-202-225-0704
R CA/47 Cox, Christopher 1-202-225-5611 1-202-225-9177
D CA/03 Fazio, Vic 1-202-225-5716 1-202-225-5141
D MD/05 Hoyer, Steny 1-202-225-4131 1-202-225-4300
(+ These are the most important to contact - call/fax them first.)
House leaders are, respectively: Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority
Leader, Maj. Whip, Min. Whip, Republican Conference Chair, Rep. Policy
Committee Chair, Democratic Caucus Chair, Dem. Steering Cmte. Chair
3. SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX
If you would like to both call, and send a fax, this extra action
would certainly help.
For best results, try to put this in your own (short!) words, and be
calmly emotive without being hostile.
IF YOU ARE A CONSTITUENT (i.e., you live in the same district as the
Rep. you are contacting) make sure to say so. For example "I am a
constituent, and I'm calling/writing because...."
IF YOU REPRESENT A COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION, say so: "I'm Jane Person
from Personal Technologies Inc. of Austin. I'm calling on behalf of
Personal Technologies to ask the Representative to...." Business
interests carry a lot of weight with many legislators, especially if
they are in the legislator's home district. Legislators also generally
heed organizational voices over individiual ones. On this issue
especially, legislators needs to hear a commercial viewpoint OPPOSING
this bill.
PHONE "SCRIPT"
You: [ring ring]
Legislative staffer: Hello, Representative Lastname's office.
You: I'm calling to urge Representative Lastname to REJECT the
so-called "Collections of Information Antipiracy Act", H.R. 2652.
This bill is missing key definitions and creates new property
rights in databases and the raw data contained in them, at the
expense of ALL citizens' rights to know and use plain facts and
information. This bill threatens fair use and freedom of speech and
press. The database industry has not proven any need for this
legislation, and it is simply yet another attempt to extend
copyright-like protection to public-domain material that can't be
copyrighted. The bill is not responsive to WIPO treaty language and
it provides for excessive and injust penalties. There is no need
for this legislation, and I urge Representative Lastname to REJECT
H.R. 2652. Thank you.
Staffer: OK, thanks. [click]
It's that easy.
You can optionally ask to speak to the legislator's technology &
intellectual property staffer. You probably won't get to, but the
message may have more weight if you succeed. The staffer who first
answers the phone probably won't be the tech/i.p. staffer.
SAMPLE FAX
See above for how to get relevant Congressional fax numbers. Please,
if you have the time, write your own 1-3 paragraph letter in your own
words, rather than send a copy of this sample letter. (However,
sending a copy of the sample letter is far better than taking no
action!)
Dear Rep. Lastname:
I'm writing to urge you to reject the excessive intellectual
property protections for database maintainers as contained in H.R.
2652, the "Collections of Information Antipiracy Act." This bill,
while being touted as as a piece of antipiracy legislation,
actually makes most uses of pure information contained in a
database illegal without prior permission from the database
maintainer. The Act does not create useful exceptions for the fair
use of information, and key definitions of crucial terms, such as
"collection" and "substantial part" are missing. Furthermore the
penalties called for - up to $500,000 and 10 years in prison - are
excessive and injust.
The database industry is booming and is quite lucrative for
companies collecting and disseminating information. At present, the
law requires database collectors to add some originality to the
information collected before the collectors receive a legally
recognized property right in the database. H.R. 2652 would change
this, giving collectors property rights in raw information that has
traditionally and properly been in the public domain. This assault
on the public's fair use rights and freedom of speech and press
will have dire consequences for journalism, medicine, science,
political campaigning, and legal research. Additionally, the bill
is simply not responsive in any way to the requirements of recent
WIPO treaties. WIPO rejected such a "database giveaway".
The database industry has not demonstrated a clear need for this
legislation, and the public interest is harmed by giving these
companies additional rights to control plain facts and information.
H.R. 2652 represents an attempt by some information collection
owners to fortify their markets through manipulating the legal
system (instead of through fair competition and the addition of
value) by raising fears of electronic piracy of information over
the Internet and through new information technologies. Congress
should wait until specific and definable market failures become
apparent before acting to correct them, and even then not in a way
as broad and vague as that attempted in H.R. 2652.
Sincerely,
My Name Here
My Address Here
(Address is especially important if you want your letter to be taken
as a letter from an actual constituent.)
For brief tips on writing letters to Congress, see:
http://www.vote-smart.org/contact/contact.html The most important tip
is to BE POLITE AND BRIEF. Swearing will NOT help.
W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CITS
Center for Information, Technology & Society
466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176
Voice: 781-662-4044 BMSLIB@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Fax: 781-662-6882 WWW: http://www.eff.org/pub/Groups/CITS/
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