[Fwd: [ALA-WO:5] Library Associations Testify on HR 107]

["Olga Francois" <ofrancois@xxxxxxxx>]

FYI...
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [ALA-WO:5] Library Associations Testify on HR 107
Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 16:43:47 -0400
From: "ALAWASH E-MAIL" <ALAWASH@xxxxxxxxxxx>

ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 13, Number 32
May 13, 2004

1) Libraries testify on behalf of fair use in the digital age before
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee

ALA Legislative Counsel, Miriam Nisbet, testified on May 12, 2004, at
the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Commerce, Trade and Consumer
Protection Subcommittee hearing on H.R. 107, the Digital Media
Consumers' Rights Act. Speaking on behalf of ALA, AALL, ARL, SLA, and
MLA, Ms. Nisbet pointed out the ways that the current prohibitions
resulting from passage of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) stifle a library's ability to make fair use of digital materials,
to preserve and archive digital content and to take advantage fully of
the other library exceptions provided by federal copyright law.

 The library testimony joined the chorus of support for H.R. 107 from
the consumer electronics industry, consumers and other public interest
groups, noted intellectual property law professors Peter Jaszi from
American University and Lawrence Lessig of Stanford, Robert Moore,
President of 321 Studios, and former U.S. Representative Allan Swift
from Washington. All repeated that the DMCA is broken and needs to be
fixed.  Ms. Nisbet also explained that the library exemption provided in
the DMCA was so narrow as to be useless and that the Copyright Office
triennial rulemakings to determine the need for more exemptions have
proven ineffective because the statutory standards have been interpreted
so narrowly. Representatives from the movie, recording and entertainment
software associations testified in opposition to H.R. 107. The full-day
hearing became a debate about the necessity vs. the threat of
maintaining fair use in the digital age. 

Copy of the library testimony is available at www.ala.org/copyright. Go
to Copyright News for May 12, 2004. Testimony from all panelists is
available at http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/action.htm.

Introduced in January of 2003, H.R. 107 was languishing in committee
until Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), newly-appointed chair of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, scheduled the hearing. A bi-partisan bill
co-sponsored by Rep. Boucher (D-VA) and Rep. Doolittle (R-CA), H.R. 107
is considered the first significant bill to attempt to restore the
balance in the copyright law that was lost in the passage of the DMCA. 
The bill reaffirms the importance of maintaining fair use in the digital
age. 

2) Attention librarians in PA, TX, AZ, and FL.

Rep. Doyle (D-PA), Rep. Rodriguez (D-TX) and Rep. Grijalva (D-AZ) have
recently signed on as co-sponsors to H.R. 107.  Please convey your
thanks for their willingness to co-sponsor this important bill.  In
addition, please thank Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), Chair of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chair of that
Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, for
holding the hearing on H.R. 107.  


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