VRA statement at Public Hearings
Sandra C. Walker
To: BITNET%"VRA-L@UAFSYSB"
CC: SCWALKER
Subj: Statements at Public Hearings & Fair Use Conference
From: UTKVX::SCWALKER 14-SEP-1994 16:28:30.15
The following statement was presented by Sandra
C. Walker, President, Visual Resources Association.
STATEMENT FOR PUBLIC HEARINGS
September 22, 1994, Washington, DC
Chairman Lehman, Members of the Working Group,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am here today, as President of the international Visual
Resources Association, to comment on the Preliminary
Draft Document, "Intellectual Property and the National
Information Infrastructure," prepared by the Working Group
on Intellectual Property Rights. The Visual Resources
Association is a group of over 700 professionals located
in the United States and 20 foreign countries including
slide and photograph curators, film and video librarians,
media professionals, photo archivists, slide and microform
producers, rights and reproduction officials, photographers,
art historians, and others concerned with visual materials.
As professionals associated, for the most part, with
universities and museums which utilize visual resources in
education, we are vitally concerned with the issues of
copyright and fair use for teaching and scholarly research.
While I believe this document is an excellent summary of
existing copyright law applicable in the United States, I
think the Working Group has not fully considered the
implications of networking as it relates to class use by
non-profit educational institutions. I am speaking in
particular about distance learning applications as opposed
to the traditional face-to-face classroom situations. There
is no exploration of how networked materials might be handled,
in relation to fair use guidelines, and whether this type of
use might even be considered to be fair use. Public performance,
distribution, and the first sale doctrine are mentioned, but
not in relation to applications by non-profit organizations
in a networked environment. As an example of how materials
might be used in a networked environment for distance
learning, an art history professor physically located in a
university might wish to provide images of art works and
related text to students physically located at other sites.
Will this use of the information infrastructure be construed
as fair use or copyright infringement?
I feel that more attention needs to be devoted to implications
of utilizing still and moving images as well as sound (described
as phonorecords in the draft document) in so-called multimedia.
As noted in the draft document, the term "multimedia" has
different meaning in copyright law than the term has for educators
and consumers. Educators and consumers generally accept multimedia
to designate digital (and/or analog) materials from a variety of
sources that may include sound and still and motion images linked
together via computer interfaces that allow the user to utilize
the multimedia program in a sequential or non-sequential way. In
some cases, it is technologically possible to download images
and/or text from so-called multimedia productions and create new
multimedia productions or derivative works. Does this type of
use by non-profit educational institutions fall within fair use
guidelines? How is usage affected by public performance rights
or first sale doctrine? How will usage and derivation be
monitored and controlled to protect intellectual property rights?
Comparison of illustrations for scholarly research and teaching
which are becoming available via the National Information
Infrastructure needs to be considered. Present copyright law
includes fair use guidelines which are too restrictive for study
of art works because pictorial, graphic and sculptural works are
excluded from the CONTU guidelines and because classroom guidelines
limit fair use of illustrations to one illustration from any one
source. This concept is also too limiting in other areas of study
and research as the limitation of illustrative material could
limit a scientific comparison of charts and diagrams; comparison
of cultural diversity topics; and illustrative materials which
illuminate the study and research of historical topics. Comparative
study and research fosters even-handed teaching rather than the
promulgation of biased viewpoints.
As described in the preliminary draft document, electronic
transmission via the National Information Infrastructure, or
indeed the Global Information Infrastructure, constitutes a
copy or reproduction of the work transmitted as the information
resides digitally within the user's computer. How does this
definition of transmission, and the subsequent copy, affect
usage of materials in non-profit educational institutions for
teaching and scholarly research? As a pertinent analogy, if
teachers wish to utilize a videotape in their classroom, the
institution should purchase a copy of the videotape. When that
videotape has been shown enough times to degrade the image
quality, the institution must then purchase a new copy of the
videotape. If a teacher, or some institutional representative
such as a librarian, receives a computer transmission, and
therefore a copy according to the draft document definition,
of visual images and/or text, the digital quality of the image
is retained and conceivably could be used indefinitely for
teaching and scholarly research. How will this type of usage
affect intellectual property rights and fair use guidelines?
Both Vice President Gore, in his speech in Buenos Aires in
March, 1994, and Secretary of Commerce Brown, in his New York
City speech in April, 1994, mentioned as one of the goals for
the year 2,000 "to connect every classroom, library, hospital
and clinic in the United States to the information highways;
to connect every school and library in the world to the Internet,
thus creating a Global Digital Library." (Federal Register) If
the definition of digital transmission constituting a reproduction
or copy is allowed to stand, then these libraries and schools
run the risk of infringing copyright when patrons browse the
information, whether text or visual, that is becoming available
in the Global Digital Library. This definition will also inhibit
scholarly research and discussion in classrooms rather than the
technology bringing images and information to classrooms that
were heretofore available only to students who travel to
museums and other sites where the original art works are located.
As professionals associated for the most part with universities
and museums, the Visual Resources Association is concerned
with affordability of the information (whether textual or
visual) which will become available on the National Information
Infrastructure. We agree with the statement in the draft
document that "... some reasonable approach must be adopted to
ensure that the economically disadvantaged in this country are
not further disenfranchised or disenfranchised by the information
revolution. Public libraries and schools, and the access to
information that they provide, have been important safeguards
against this nation becoming a nation of information 'haves'
and 'have nots.' We must ensure that they continue to be able
to assume that role." (p. 133) I would add that the members of
our organization believe that compensation for intellectual
property rights (i.e. royalty fees etc.) should not prohibit
the use of visual or textual materials for teaching and
scholarly research. Fair Use guidelines and/or statutory
changes to copyright law must be enacted to encourage, rather
than limit, the development of Online Public Access Catalogs
and dissemination of information for scholarly research and
teaching in nonprofit educational institutions. While most
of our membership is located in institutional libraries or
departments which specialize in images of art works, visual
images are not limited to art classes, but may also be used
in history classes, English literature classes,
anthropology classes, classes exploring cultural diversity and
others. We feel that information on the National Information
Infrastructure, whether visual images or text, should be
available to benefit the broadest spectrum rather than an
elite group of users.
I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the draft document
prepared by the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights
and look forward to more information from this group.
Sandra C. Walker
President, Visual Resources Association
Visual Resources Specialist
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
1715 Volunteer Blvd.
Knoxville, TN 37996-2410
Telephone: 615-974-3196
FAX: 615-974-3198