ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 13, Number 9 February 19, 2004 In This Issue: ACTION ALERT: Database Protection Legislation needs immediate grassroots action! H.R. 3261, the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriations Act, has the support of House leadership and is gaining momentum. On February 12, the House Judiciary Committee reported out the bill with amendments and referred it to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Energy and Commerce Committee has until March 12, 2004 to act on the bill. See the bill at www.thomas.loc.gov It is crucial that library advocates with Representatives sitting on the House Energy and Commerce Committee tell their Representatives it is time to oppose this legislation. H.R. 3261 would create what amounts to ownership rights in a wide variety of data including facts. Despite opposition from the libraries, an array of business concerns including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, telecommunications, financial services and high technology organizations, the House leadership has been committed to passing the legislation. Talking Points * Despite years of negotiation, H.R. 3261 is not acceptable to libraries and other opponents. * H.R. 3261 is simply not necessary. Existing laws are adequate to protect the interests of the database producers, who have yet to prove that their businesses have suffered because of any failure in the law. * H.R. 3261 gives broad protections to database producers and will lead to reduced competition in the database market and increased costs to libraries at a time when the cost of academic journals and access to technical, scientific and medical information is already prohibitively expensive for many libraries. * H.R. 3261 is too vague and will add to uncertainty in the law and increase the likelihood of litigation. * The narrow exemption for nonprofit educational, scientific and research institutions is inadequate because of the ambiguous language in the bill. Also, the exemption could be overridden by terms in "shrink-wrap" or non-negotiated contracts. * H.R. 3261 makes it permissible, in effect, to copyright facts - a practice never allowed under copyright law. By doing so, the bill could give database producers both retroactive and perpetual rights to a wide variety of information. These talking points are also available online with contact information for your Representatives. Go to ALA's Contact Congress legislative action center. www.capwiz.com/ala. E-Mail or fax the Representatives on the Energy and Commerce Committee TODAY! Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee: Arizona John B. Shadegg California Christopher Cox George Radanovich Mary Bono Darrell Issa Henry A. Waxman Anna G. Eshoo Lois Capps Hilda L. Solis Colorado Diana DeGette Florida Michael Bilirakis Cliff Stearns Peter Deutsch Jim Davis Georgia Nathan Deal Charlie Norwood Idaho C.L. "Butch" Otter Illinois John Shimkus Bobby L. Rush Jan Schakowsky Indiana Steve Buyer Kentucky Ed Whitfield Louisiana W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, Chairman Christopher John Maine Tom Allen Maryland Albert R. Wynn Missouri Karen McCarthy Massachusetts Edward J. Markey Michigan Fred Upton Mike Rogers John D. Dingell, Ranking Member Bart Stupak Mississippi Charles "Chip" Pickering Missouri Karen McCarthy Nebraska Lee Terry New Hampshire Charles F. Bass New Jersey Mike Ferguson Frank Pallone Jr. New Mexico Heather Wilson New York Vito Fossella Edolphus Towns Eliot L. Engel North Carolina Richard Burr,Vice Chairman Ohio Paul E. Gillmor Sherrod Brown Oklahoma John Sullivan Oregon Greg Walden Pennsylvania James C. Greenwood Joseph R. Pitts Michael F. Doyle Tennessee Bart Gordon Texas Ralph M. Hall Joe Barton Gene Green Charles A. Gonzalez Virginia Rick Boucher Wyoming Barbara Cubin ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman, Don Essex, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.