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<title>FR database protection statement 3/99</title>
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<h1>Intellectual Property, Copyright Protection and Fair Use<font color="#000080"><br>
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<td valign="top" width="74%"><b><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"><p ALIGN="CENTER">&nbsp;</font><font FACE="Arial"></p>
<p ALIGN="CENTER">Position Statement</b></p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The corporations, educational institutions, non-profit organizations
and trade associations listed below are users as well as creators in the compilation and
value-added transformation of databases. The Information Age and digital technology
provide researchers and consumers across the globe with a unique opportunity to continue
to create, maintain, and use new and innovative databases that are essential to science,
education, business, and the overall economy. </p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Because databases are items of commerce in their own right, and are
critical tools for facilitating electronic commerce, research and education endeavors, we
support Federal legislation carefully tailored to provide database publishers with
sufficient protection against incentive-eliminating piracy. Conversely, we oppose
legislation which would grant the compiler of any information an unprecedented right to
control transformative, value-added, downstream uses of the resulting collection or of any
useful fraction of that collection.</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The basic information policy of this country &#150; a policy that has
existed since the writing of the Constitution &#150; has served us extremely well. The
policy is that the building blocks of all information &#150; facts, as distinct from the
copyrightable manner in which they are expressed &#150; cannot be owned. </p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The particular legislative approach that has been considered by the
House Judiciary Committee in the past three Congresses would mark a fundamental change in
our nation's information policy. The problems raised by this change to commerce and
competition were recognized by the Department of Justice, the Department of Commerce, and
the Federal Trade Commission last year in separate letters to Congress identifying their
concerns with H.R. 2652 considered by the 105th Congress. H.R. 354, the Collections of
Information Antipiracy Act, is modeled on last year&#146;s bill and does not resolve these
concerns.</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We support Federal legislation that will not harm legitimate research
activities and small businesses, but will - </p>
<ul>
<ul>
<li>prevent unfair competition in the form of parasitic copying; </li>
<li>preserve the fair use of information;</li>
<li>promote the progress of science, education and research; </li>
<li>protect value-added publishers and their customers; and </li>
<li>provide safeguards against monopolistic pricing.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We look forward to working closely with all Members of Congress to
craft well-reasoned, targeted and balanced legislation that will punish database pirates
without jeopardizing the thriving commerce in information long at the core of America's
economic, scientific and intellectual life.</p>
<p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">&nbsp;</p>
<p>Amazon.Com, Inc.<br>
Amdahl Corporation<br>
American Association for the Advancement of Science<br>
American Association of Law Libraries<br>
American Association of Legal Publishers<br>
American Association of State Colleges and Universities <br>
American Committee for Interoperable Systems<br>
American Council on Education<br>
American Film Heritage Association<br>
American Library Association<br>
American Meteorological Society<br>
American Society of Agronomy<br>
American Statistical Association<br>
Art Libraries Society of North America<br>
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons<br>
Association of American Universities<br>
Association of Research Libraries<br>
AT&amp;T<br>
Ball Research, Inc.<br>
Bell Atlantic<br>
Big 12 Plus Libraries Consortium<br>
Bloomberg Financial Markets<br>
California Institute of Technology<br>
Case Western Reserve University<br>
CDnow, Inc.<br>
Charles Schwab &amp; Co., Inc.<br>
Citizens&#146; Council on Healthcare<br>
College Art Association<br>
Columbia University<br>
Commercial Internet eXchange Association<br>
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility<br>
Conference on College Composition and Communication<br>
Consortium of Social Science Associations<br>
Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association<br>
Consumer Project on Technology<br>
Cornell University<br>
Council of Graduate Schools<br>
Council on Governmental Relations<br>
Crop Science Society of America<br>
Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc.<br>
Digital Future Coalition<br>
Digital Media Association<br>
Duke University<br>
Dun &amp; Bradstreet<br>
Eagle Forum<br>
Electronic Frontier Foundation<br>
Enso Audio Imaging, Inc.<br>
Excite<br>
Geocities<br>
Global Music Outlet, Inc.<br>
Harvard University<br>
Home Recording Rights Coalition<br>
Information Technology Association of America<br>
Inktomi<br>
Internet Society<br>
Iowa State University<br>
Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology<br>
Louisiana State University<br>
Lycos<br>
Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
MCI WorldCom<br>
Medical Library Association<br>
Missouri Council on Library Development<br>
Music Library Association<br>
<strong>National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges</strong><br>
National Council of Teachers of English<br>
National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage<br>
National Writers Union<br>
NetRadio Network, Inc.<br>
Netscape Communications Corporation<br>
North Carolina State University<br>
Northwestern University<br>
Omnibot<br>
Online Banking Association<br>
Pennsylvania State University<br>
Queens Borough Public Library, NY<br>
RealNetworks, Inc.<br>
Rutgers University<br>
Soil Science Society of America<br>
Special Libraries Association<br>
Spinner Network, inc.<br>
StorageTek<br>
Syracuse University<br>
Sunes.com<br>
U.S. WEST<br>
United States Catholic Conference<br>
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research<br>
University of Chicago<br>
University of Cincinnati<br>
University of Colorado<br>
University of Florida<br>
University of Michigan<br>
University of Missouri - St. Louis<br>
University of Missouri-Columbia<br>
University of New Orleans<br>
University of North Carolina -- Charlotte<br>
University of Southern California<br>
University of Tennessee, Knoxville<br>
University of Texas at Austin<br>
University of Utah<br>
University of Wisconsin-Madison<br>
University System of Maryland<br>
Utah Agricultural Experiment Station<br>
Vanderbilt University<br>
Visual Resources Association<br>
Washington University, St. Louis<br>
Wells Anderson Legal Tech Services<br>
Yahoo! Inc.<br>
Yale University</p>
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<p align="left"><font color="#FF0000"><em><strong>updated 3/23/98</strong></em></font></p>
<p align="left"><font size="2"><em>For additional information on Federal Relations contact
Jerold Roschwalb in the Office of Federal Relations--Higher Education 202/478-6025, fax
202-478-6046, or click here to e-mail:<a href="mailto:jroschwalb@nasulgc.org">
jroschwalb@nasulgc.org.</a></em></font></p>
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