[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 140 (Thursday, October 9, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE INTRODUCTION OF THE COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION ANTIPIRACY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HOWARD COBLE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 9, 1997

  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to introduce the Collections 
of Information Antipiracy Act, a bill to encourage continued investment 
in the production and distribution of valuable new collections of 
information.
  Electronic collections, and other collections of factual material, 
are absolutely indispensable to the American economy on the verge of 
the new century. These information products put a wealth of data at the 
fingertips of business people, professionals, scientists, scholars, and 
consumers, and enable them to retrieve from this haystack of 
information the specific factual needle that they need to solve a 
particular economic, research, or educational problem. Whether they 
focus on financial, scientific, legal, medical, bibliographic, news, or 
other information, collections of information are essential tools for 
improving productivity, advancing education and training, and creating 
a more informed citizenry. They are also the linchpins of a dynamic 
commercial information industry in the United States.
  Developing, compiling, distributing, and maintaining commercially 
significant collections requires substantial investments of time, 
personnel, and money. Information companies must dedicate massive 
resources when gathering and verifying factual material, presenting it 
in a user-friendly way, and keeping it current for and useful to 
customers. U.S. firms have been the world leaders in this field. They 
have brought to market a wide range of valuable collections of 
information that meet the information needs of businesses, 
professionals, researchers, and consumers worldwide. But several recent 
legal and technological developments threaten to cast a pall over this 
progress, by eroding the incentives for the continued investment needed 
to maintain and build upon the U.S. lead in world markets for 
electronic information resources.
  I recently received a report from Dr. Laura D'Andrea Tyson, former 
National Economic Advisor to the President and former Chair of the 
White House Council on Economic Advisors. Dr. Tyson's study 
demonstrates strong economic reasons for providing adequate statutory 
protection for the data base industry, and points out that failure to 
act may result in adverse effects on technological progress, on 
economic growth, and possibly on the research, education, and 
scientific communities. Noted authors and scholars have also endorsed 
the need to provide some protection to collections of information, to 
prevent freeloaders from appropriating the fruits of others' 
investments.
  Here in the United States, the 1991 Supreme Court decision in Feist 
Publications versus Rural Telephone Service Co. marked a tougher 
attitude toward claims of copyright in data bases. While reaffirming 
that most--although not all--commercially significant collections of 
information satisfy the ``originality'' requirement for protection 
under copyright, the Court emphasized that this protection is 
``necessarily thin.'' Several subsequent lower court decisions have 
underscored that copyright cannot stop a competitor from lifting 
massive amounts of factual material from a copyrighted collection to 
use as the basis for its own competing product. Producers are concerned 
that some of these cases may also cast doubt on the ability of a 
proprietor to use contractual provisions to protect itself against 
unfair competition from such free riders.
  In cyberspace, technological developments represent a threat as well 
as an opportunity for collections of information, just as for other 
kinds of works. Copying factual material from another's proprietary 
collection, and rearranging it to form a competing information 
product--just the kind of behavior that copyright protection may not 
effectively prevent--is cheaper and easier than ever through digital 
technology that is now in widespread use.
  When all these factors are added together, the bottom line is clear: 
it is time to consider new federal legislation to protect developers 
who place their materials in interstate commerce against piracy and 
unfair competition, and thus encourage continued investment in the 
production and distribution of valuable commercial collections of 
information.
  While copyright, on the Federal level, and State contract law 
underlying licensing agreements remain essential for protecting the 
enormous investment in collections of information, there are gaps in 
the protection that can best be filled by a new Federal statute which 
will complement copyright law. The Collections of Information 
Antipiracy Act would prohibit the misappropriation of valuable 
commercial collections of information by unscrupulous competitors who 
grab data collected by others, repackage it, and market a product that 
threatens competitive injury to the original collection. This new 
Federal protection is modeled in part on the Lanham Act, which already 
makes similar kinds of unfair competition a civil wrong under Federal 
law. Importantly, this bill maintains existing protections for 
collections of information afforded by copyright and contract rights. 
It is intended to supplement these legal rights, not replace them.
  The Collections of Information Antipiracy Act is a balanced proposal. 
It is aimed at actual or threatened competitive injury from 
misappropriation of collections of information or their contents, not 
at uses which do not affect marketability or competitiveness. The goal 
is to stimulate the creation of even more collections, and to encourage 
even more competition among them. The bill avoids conferring any 
monopoly on facts, or taking any other steps that might be inconsistent 
with these goals.
  This bill differs dramatically from H.R. 3531, introduced in the last 
Congress by then-Chairman Carlos Moorhead. H.R. 3531 proposed to enact 
a new form of sui generous copyright protection of data bases. This 
bill is a minimalist approach grounded in unfair competition principles 
as a complement to copyright, and the damage that can be done from 
substantial copying of collections of information.
  In drafting this bill, I was particularly mindful of the concerns of 
the library, scientific research, and educational communities. Concerns 
raised in response to the introduction of H.R. 3531 last year by these 
groups warned of the dramatic consequences that could result from 
legislation in this area. My staff and I heard these concerns, through 
personal meetings and through the Copyright Office report on this issue 
presented to the Congress earlier this year. This bill alleviates those 
concerns by specifically allowing access and use for those purposes, 
while still providing necessary protection to ensure continued 
investment and production of collections of information.
  This legislation provides the starting point for legislative activity 
on an important and complex subject. I look forward to hearing the 
suggestions and reactions of interested parties and of my colleagues at 
a hearing later this month.

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