May 19, 1997
The American Association of Museums (AAM) strongly supports fair use and its continued relevance in the digital environment. As simultaneous users and owners of copyrighted images, museums are actively and regularly engaged in policies and practices involving fair use. In April 1996, AAM, along with the Association of Art Museum Directors, agreed to co-chair the Conference on Fair Use (CONFU) subgroup on Educational Fair Use Guidelines for Digital Images. From April to October 1996, dozens of organizations participated in over 100 hours of negotiations and attempted to reach a compromise proposal for educational fair use guidelines for digital images.
AAM sought comment on the resulting proposed guidelines from its membership, Standing Professional Committees, Board of Directors, and the museum community. A number of museums commented on their need for clear and balanced guidance on fair use of digital images and encouraged the Board's endorsement of the guidelines. Others, questioning whether guidelines might be premature or burdensome, recommended against endorsement. On April 25, 1997, the AAM Board of Directors voted to endorse the Proposal for Educational Fair Use Guidelines for Digital Images in order to begin a one-year trial study of the guidelines.
During this trial study, AAM and other organizations will examine the balance and practicality of the guidelines through use of the guidelines among their memberships. With the AAM Board's endorsement, museums can begin to put the guidelines into practice immediately. At the close of the study period, AAM will review comments and may recommend revisiting the guidelines in some areas if appropriate. We look forward to hearing from all types, sizes, and disciplines of museums to gauge the success of the guidelines. Both the Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office have assured AAM that they will not seek to include the guidelines in any legislation or legislative history during the trial study.
Since museums are both rightsholders and educational institutions, AAM strived to balance the guidelines so that they maintain copyright controls while providing affirmative fair use defenses for innovative educational uses. As with any negotiation, the guidelines represent a number of compromise agreements, some of which were acceptable to the entire group and others that were controversial. In areas where the guidelines are silent, the participants agreed upon that silence; in every case, the Copyright Act's four-factor fair use test is recognized as the ultimate arbiter of fair use.
AAM is encouraged by the Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office's consistent and direct support for fair use throughout the CONFU process. As recently as May 9, 1997, Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks Bruce Lehman reaffirmed his commitment to fair use. We appreciate the work of the U.S. Copyright Office, the Patent and Trademark Office, and the many organizations who provided comment during the CONFU process. CONFU has provided a healthy first step to opening communication between many parties with differing perspectives on fair use in the new digital environment. AAM will continue to seek ways to represent museums' significant interests in fair use and other copyright issues and to keep an open dialogue on these issues.
Founded in 1906, the American Association of Museums (AAM) is dedicated to promoting excellence within the museum community. Through advocacy, professional education, information exchange, accreditation, and guidance on current professional standards of performance, AAM assists museum staff, boards, and volunteers across the country to better serve the public.
AAM is the only organization representing the entire scope of museums and professionals and nonpaid staff who work for and with museums. AAM currently represents more than 14,000 members--9,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, 3,000 institutions, and 1,200 corporate members. Individual members span the range of occupations in museums, including directors, curators, registrars, educators, exhibit designers, public relations officers, development officers, security managers, trustees, and volunteers.