1999 FLICC Forum on Federal Information Policies

Copyright, Electronic Works,
and Federal Libraries:
Maintaining Equilibrium

FORUM CALL

American copyright law seeks a balance between rights and obligations of creators and users of intellectual property to, in the words of the Constitution, "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts." Securing exclusive rights to their writings gives authors incentives to continue to create, while defining those rights and limiting the period of exclusivity protect the interests of readers, who are also potential creators. The resulting laws that have grown out of this constitutional foundation have led to a level of progress of which the Constitutional Framers could only have dreamed.

As the medium for expression evolves from the tangible printed book to electronic forms of writing, these changes stretch familiar concepts and threaten the balance between author and reader. The practical limits of technology, our social understanding of "intellectual property" and the value of information, and our institutional and legal framework seem inadequate for the electronic era. The 1999 FLICC Forum on Federal Information Policies will address how authors, publishers, readers, libra-ries, and the government are working to redistribute rights and obligations between authors and readers to restore equilibrium in the copyright arena.

The Forum will begin with distinguished speakers from the U.S. Copyright Office and the Association of American Publishers who will review the principles underlying American copyright law and consider how the electronic age is testing these principles. Next, the Forum will examine the specific challenges to our copyright regime identified in the Copyright Office's Project Looking Forward, namely, the new subject matter, new uses, and growing potential for decentralized infringement characteristic of the electronic medium.

Forces of technology, social and market behavior, policy and law are all responsible for the shift in equilibrium and are the very same tools that will restore it. The afternoon session will open with an update on how the law is being revisited as the new Digital Millennium Copyright Act, other legislative initiatives, and the proposal for a new section of the Uniform Commercial Code on licenses. Formal changes in the legal framework may affect everything from library database services to shrink-wrap licenses for mass market software.

These technological and legal changes manifest themselves throughout library operations—in technical services, systems, and public services. The afternoon session continues by illustrating how concepts such as the first sale doctrine, licensing, fair use, and other library, archival, and educational exemptions in the copyright law play out in today's collection development, acquisitions, resource sharing, and preservation activities. An industry speaker will then identify and explain the technology available to manage copyrighted resources, protect works, assess charges, and limit and monitor access.

Afternoon speakers will highlight how government readers and authors must accustom themselves to the new electronic intellectual property environment, and how to develop a formal agency policy on copyright. Speakers will also describe how an agency might carry out and enforce such a policy and what the policy should include. The Forum will then conclude with an in-depth look at one such issue—government Web publishing and the issues it raises, including linking, framing, connecting to potentially infringing sites, and securing permissions.