[Though the following attachment does not address specific issues of
Historical Archaeology, it does concern an issue that is going to be of
increasing importance to those utilizing the internet for research. BBB]
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ALAWON
ALA Washington Office Newsline
An electronic publication of the
American Library Association Washington Office
Volume 4, Number 22
March 11, 1995
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ALA APPROVES FAIR USE STATEMENT
The following statement, "Fair Use in the Electronic Age: Serving the
Public Interest," is an outgrowth of discussions among a number of library
associations regarding intellectual property, and in particular, the
concern that the interests and rights of copyright owners and users remain
balanced in the digital environment.
The purpose of the statement is to outline the lawful uses of copyrighted
works by individuals, libraries, and educational institutions in the
electronic environment. It is intended to inform ongoing copyright
discussions and serve as a reference document for users and libraries, to
be circulated widely, and to spark discussion on these issues. The
statement will continue to be a Working Document.
At the American Library Association's recent Midwinter Conference, the ALA
Council passed a resolution supporting in principle the Fair Use Statement.
ALA welcomes feedback on the statement as a working document. (ALA Council
Document 20.10, February 8, 1995, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)
TEXT OF THE STATEMENT
Working Document 1/18/95
FAIR USE IN THE ELECTRONIC AGE:
SERVING THE PUBLIC INTEREST
The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of
authors, but "[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful
Arts." To this end, copyright assures authors the right to their
original expression, but encourages others to build freely upon
the ideas and information conveyed by a work....This result is
neither unfair nor unfortunate. It is the means by which
copyright advances the progress of science and art.
-- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
(Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone
Service Co., 499 US 340, 349 (1991)
The genius of United States copyright law is that, in conformance with its
constitutional foundation, it balances the intellectual property interests
of authors, publishers and copyright owners with society's need for the
free exchange of ideas. Taken together, fair use and other public rights
to utilize copyrighted works, as confirmed in the Copyright Act of 1976,
constitute indispensable legal doctrines for promoting the dissemination of
knowledge, while ensuring authors, publishers and copyright owners
appropriate protection of their creative works and economic investments.
The fair use provision of the Copyright Act allows reproduction and other
uses of copyrighted works under certain conditions for purposes such as
criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for
classroom use), scholarship or research. Additional provisions of the law
allow uses specifically permitted by Congress to further educational and
library activities. The preservation and continuation of these balanced
rights in an electronic environment as well as in traditional formats are
essential to the free flow of information and to the development of an
information infrastructure that serves the public interest.
It follows that the benefits of the new technologies should flow to the
public as well as to copyright proprietors. As more information becomes
available only in electronic formats, the public's legitimate right to use
copyrighted material must be protected. In order for copyright to truly
serve its purpose of "promoting progress," the public's right of fair use
must continue in the electronic era, and these lawful uses of copyrighted
works must be allowed without individual transaction fees.
Without infringing copyright, the public has a right to expect:
o to read, listen to, or view publicly marketed copyrighted material
privately, on site or remotely;
o to browse through publicly marketed copyrighted material;
o to experiment with variations of copyrighted material for fair use
purposes, while preserving the integrity of the original;
o to make or have made for them a first generation copy for personal use
of an article or other small part of a publicly marketed copyrighted
work or a work in a library's collection for such purpose as study,
scholarship, or research; and
o to make transitory copies if ephemeral or incidental to a lawful use
and if retained only temporarily.
Without infringing copyright, nonprofit libraries and other Section 108
libraries, on behalf of their clientele, should be able:
o to use electronic technologies to preserve copyrighted materials in
their collections;
o to provide copyrighted materials as part of electronic reserve room
service;
o to provide copyrighted materials as part of electronic interlibrary
loan service; and
o to avoid liability, after posting appropriate copyright notices, for
the unsupervised actions of their users.
Users, libraries, and educational institutions have a right to expect:
o that the terms of licenses will not restrict fair use or other lawful
library or educational uses;
o that U.S. government works and other public domain materials will be
readily available without restrictions and at a government price not
exceeding the marginal cost of dissemination; and
o that rights of use for nonprofit education apply in face-to-face
teaching and in transmittal or broadcast to remote locations where
educational institutions of the future must increasingly reach their
students.
Carefully constructed copyright guidelines and practices have emerged for
the print environment to ensure that there is a balance between the rights
of users and those of authors, publishers, and copyright owners. New
understandings, developed by all stakeholders, will help to ensure that
this balance is retained in a rapidly changing electronic environment.
This working statement addresses lawful uses of copyrighted works in both
the print and electronic environments.
January 18, 1995
This statement was developed by representatives of the following
associations:
American Association of Law Libraries
American Library Association
Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors
Association of Research Libraries
Medical Library Association
Special Libraries Association
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| Berkley B. Bailey ([log in to unmask]) |
| University of Oklahoma, Department of Anthropology |
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|
