ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 9, Number 70
September 8, 2000

In this issue:

UCITA Teleconference: Registration Details Now Available

A previous ALAWON alerted you to the UCITA teleconference on 
December 13, 2000 from 1:00-4:00pm Eastern Standard Time, which is 
being sponsored by the American Library Association, along with 
the Association of Research Libraries, American Association of Law 
Libraries, Medical Libraries Association and Special Libraries 
Association.  Details such as cost and registration for the 
satellite teleconference are now available at 
http://www.arl.org/ucita.html.

The teleconference will provide a valuable "primer" on the Uniform 
Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA), strategies for 
opposing or amending the legislation in your state, and an 
opportunity to ask the panelists questions.  There will be four 
panelists, each of whom have been involved in lobbying against 
UCITA in their home states. 

The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) is a 
proposed state contract law developed to regulate transactions in 
intangible goods such as computer software, online databases and 
other information products in digital form. Libraries are 
concerned that, among other things, UCITA would validate terms in 
shrink wrap and "click wrap" licenses that restrict uses by 
libraries that are otherwise allowed under copyright law.  For 
more information regarding UCITA, see the ALA Washington Office 
Web site on UCITA at http://www.ala.org/washoff/ucita.html.

If you become aware that UCITA is being proposed or even 
considered in your state legislature, please let ALA's Washington 
Office know by contacting Miriam Nisbet, Legislative Counsel, at 
1-800-941-8478/202-628-8410 or at mnisbet@alawash.org.


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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; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and 
Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick 
Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra 
Shirley. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy