ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 10, Number 71
October 5, 2001

In this issue: 

US Copyright Office issues report on the effects of DMCA on the "first sale" doctrine.

The U.S. Copyright Office issued a report at the end of August that had been mandated by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. That law directed the Copyright Office and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to make a report to Congress "no later than 24 months after the enactment of the DMCA" (October 2000) on the effects on the "first sale doctrine" of the DMCA and the development of electronic commerce. The NTIA released its report in March 2001, concluding that it was "premature to draw any conclusions or make any legislative recommendation at this time."

The main question for the Copyright Office was whether it should recommend legislation to expand the first sale doctrine to permit digital transmission of lawfully made copies of copyrighted works. The office acknowledged that the library community had raised "potentially valid concerns," such as the ability to make interlibrary loans and to offer off-site accessibility, that "may require further consideration at some point in the future." However, the Copyright Office recommended no change to the copyright law at this time.

The House Judiciary Committee announced that it will hold two hearings on the Copyright Office report. The first of those hearings was originally scheduled for October 4 but has now been postponed. Although no one from the library or education communities was included among the witnesses scheduled to testify at the hearings, we are talking with congressional staff about how our views can be heard. We also have been meeting with coalition partners on these issues to discuss strategies for drawing attention to the library concerns.

On another front, Rep. Rick Boucher (R-VA) has announced on several occasions that he intends to introduce legislation to guarantee fair use in six areas including distance education, the first sale doctrine, incidental copying and software backup. The Washington Office will be asking for grassroots support to urge Representatives to co-sponsor Boucher's bill (or bills) when introduced.

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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; Camille Bowman, Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.