[PEN-L:6907] Database Regulations Alert (fwd)

[Bill Moore <billkatt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

It's only 11:15pm in Denver, so I'll slip this under the sliding
"tomorrow" wire, 'cause it does have international implications for
everyone on the Internet.  Looking forward to ROTW day...       BtC

---------- Forwarded message ----------
My organization--UCAR (the University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research)--has recently been made aware of pending changes in
international intellectual property laws that would detrimentally
affect researchers and scientists working with international scientific
data.

Briefly, the US Department of Commerce has drafted a database protection
bill that is now being considered by Congress as the US proposal to the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  Major provisions of the
treaty

--prohibit unauthorized extraction, use, or reuse of any database or any
  substantial portion of a database (as defined by its vendor), which
  effectively establishes a pay-per-use system;
--establish a 15-year initial term of protection that may be
  renewed with every substantial change or addition to the database,
  which effectively makes perpetual protection the norm;
--apply to all privately generated data OR REPACKAGED US GOVERNMENT
  DATA;
--include strong civil and criminal penalties, including third-party
  liability for unwitting redistribution!

(A copy of the bill can be seen at:  http://www.ggtech.com/h3531.html)

In an open letter on 9 October 1996 to Commerce Secretary Michael Kantor,
Bruce Alberts (President of the National Academy of Sciences), William
Wulf (President of the National Academy of Engineering), and Kenneth Shine
(President of the Institute of Medicine) have argued that the proposed
treaty "would seriously undermine the ability of researchers and educators
to access and use scientific data, and would have a deleterious long-term
impact on our nation's research capabilities.  Moreover," they continue
"the proposed changes are broadly antithetical to the principle of 'full
and open exchange' of scientific data espoused by the US government and
academic science communities, and promoted internationally."

Additional concerns are expressed by Pamela Samuelson (a professor of
Information Management and Law at UC Berkeley) in the November issue of
the _Communications of the ACM_.  She notes, among other concerns, that
the US proposal would outlaw, for example, the extraction and reuse of
database contents in a product or service that directly or indirectly
competes in "any market with the database from which it was extracted,"
and in "any market in which the database owner has a demonstrable interest
or expectation in licensing or otherwise using or reusing the database."

As she notes, the proposal grants "more extensive rights than is needed or
desired" and "leaves too little room for second comers to develop
follow-on products and services."

Both sources of information argue that the US needs to have open and
thorough debate on the issues before either submitting a proposal to the
WIPO or agreeing to proposals presented by other nations.

If your work involves using scientific data, particularly data created and
used internationally, I urge you to contact the Department of Commerce
directly:

The Honorable Michael Kantor
Secretary of Commerce
Department of Commerce
14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20230

I also urge you to share this information with others who may be
interested in international data issues.

 Sally Bates, Information Manager	| sally@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 UCAR/Unidata Program Center		| Phone: (303) 497-8637
 P.O. Box 3000				| FAX:   (303) 497-8690
 Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000          	| http://www.unidata.ucar.edu


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