NEWS
BRIEF
May 23, 1997
revised May 28
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NEWS
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David Green
What in the world is CONFU (and how is it perceived around the rest of the world)? This was one of the hotly debated questions during the advertised "final meeting" of the Conference on Fair Use on May 19, 1997.
The winning answer is that CONFU is a loosely constructed framework called for in 1994 by the President's Information Infrastructure Task Force's Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights to enable copyright proprietors and the educational users of copyright material to develop guidelines for the fair use of copyrighted digital works.
CONFU, we heard emphasized, was not a Congressionally-mandated body (indeed was not a body at all); the results and the forthcoming CONFU Report would certainly not have the force of law or even the status of being read into legislative history. CONFU is simply a discussion process, that is open to all. Its Working Groups, which produced three sets of guidelines, are similarly open to any who wanted (and could afford frequent travel to DC) to attend.
So what occurred during the final meeting of this informal, non-legislative, non-binding "conference"?
Although some were figuratively horsewhipped for suggesting that CONFU itself was confusing and that it had brought with it much unhelpful political baggage from the IITF era, it seems clear to this writer that CONFU clearly has been confusing to many and that its continuation or resurrection under the same name might cause further misunderstanding or misrepresentation of its authority.
Many within the nonprofit educational and cultural community are now thinking that it is time to step back and clarify what our community values are in the arena of production, management and use of intellectual property. What are some bedrock principles that could serve the nonprofit community in the place of broadly accepted guidelines? Perhaps now is the time for the educational community to more actively engage in a national debate about principles and values as far as the production , management and use of intellectual property is concerned. Some internal discussion and agreement might be good for our collective spirit and to foster more unified collective action when we next engage with the commercial proprietors.
We should perhaps also consider whether, in the context of upcoming Congressional action in ratifying the WIPO Copyright Treaty and pursuing further digital copyright legislation, having attempted to play fair through CONFU, we should now work hard to reassert the principle of Fair Use in the digital environment at the legislative level.
REVISED JULY 2, 1997
Links from Organization name connect with statements
endorsing or rejecting Guidelines
*Asterisk indicates link to PDF file at
Patent
& Trademark Office website
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ORGANIZATION |
Digital |
Distance |
Multimedia |
|---|---|---|---|
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
|
No position |
No position |
Yes | |
|
No |
Yes |
No | |
|
Yes |
-- |
-- | |
|
No |
No |
No | |
|
American Bar Association--Section on Intellectual Property * |
|
|
Yes |
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No |
Yes |
No | |
|
No |
No |
No | |
|
No |
No |
No | |
|
|
|
Yes | |
|
No |
No |
No | |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No position |
Yes |
No position | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No |
No |
No | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No |
No |
No | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No |
-- |
-- | |
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No |
No |
No | |
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No position |
No position |
Yes | |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No |
No |
No | |
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes | |
|
No |
No |
No | |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes | |
|
Educational Technology Officers, Association of State University of New York * |
-- |
-- |
Yes |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes | |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes | |
|
-- |
No |
-- | |
|
Indiana University Institute for the Study of Intellectual Property and Education * |
-- |
-- |
No |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes | |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No |
No |
No | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No |
No |
No | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No Position |
No Position |
No Position | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes |
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National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges * |
No |
No |
No |
|
National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History * |
No |
No |
No |
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes | |
|
-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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OhioLink * |
No |
No |
No |
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Yes |
Yes |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No |
-- |
-- | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No position |
Yes |
No position | |
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Yes |
Yes |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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-- |
-- |
Yes | |
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No |
No |
No |
5/16/97
|
National School Boards Association |
-- |
-- |
No |
|
National Association of Elementary School Principals |
-- |
-- |
No |
|
American Association of School Administrators |
-- |
-- |
No |
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National Association of Independent Schools |
-- |
-- |
No |
|
National Association of Secondary School Principals |
-- |
-- |
No |
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National Education Association |
-- |
-- |
No |
|
U.S. Catholic Conference |
-- |
-- |
No |
*Chris Dalziel, Instructional Telecommunications Council
Adam Eisgrau, American Library Association
Mary Levering, Copyright Office
* Lisa Livingston, Consortium of College and University Media Centers
* Victor Perlman, American Society of Media Photographers
Carol Risher, Association of American Publishers
Mark Traphagen, Software Publishers Association
* Laila Van Eyck, National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges
* John Vaughn, Association of American Universities
* Pat Williams, American Association of Museums
* new member
For comments or suggestions on this newsletter and
its content,
e-mail David Green or call
202/296-5346.
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