[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 8, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12744-12745]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-5666]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office


National Information Infrastructure (NII) Copyright Awareness 
Campaign

AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights of the White 
House Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF) issued a preliminary 
draft of its report, ``Intellectual Property and the National 
Information Infrastructure,'' on July 7, 1994. One of the Working 
Group's findings announced in the preliminary draft is that effective 
education of the public about intellectual property rights is crucial 
to the successful development of the NII. The Working Group recognizes 
that the public's awareness of their own intellectual property rights, 
as well as those of others, will lead to increased respect for those 
rights.
    In order to effectuate public awareness of copyright, the 
preliminary draft, on page 140, stated that the [[Page 12745]] Working 
Group would sponsor a conference to develop curricula that may be used 
in schools and libraries to educate the public about intellectual 
property rights in the NII environment. The draft further stated that 
anyone who wished to participate in the conference should request to do 
so by sending a request to Terri A. Southwick by July 25, 1994. The 
participants have been chosen and notified. Every effort was made to 
ensure that a wide diversity of interests will be represented at the 
conference. All meetings will be open to the public. Information on 
subsequent meetings may be obtained by calling Alan Wright at (703) 
305-9300.

DATES: The first meeting of the Copyright Awareness Campaign, will be 
held in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 21, 1995. It will begin at 2 
p.m. and last until 5 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The first meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of 
Education, 600 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, in the Barnard 
Auditorium.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alan Wright, Office of Legislative and 
International Affairs, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Box 4, 
Washington, DC 20231. Telephone: (703) 305-9300; Fax: (703) 305-8885.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Working Group on Intellectual Property 
Rights, chaired by Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of 
Patents and Trademarks Bruce A. Lehman, was established as part of the 
White House Information Infrastructure Task Force. The Task Force, 
chaired by Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown, was created to work 
with Congress and the private sector to develop comprehensive 
telecommunications and information policies aimed at articulating and 
implementing the Administration's vision for the National Information 
Infrastructure (NII).
    The Working Group's concern for improved public education regarding 
intellectual property rights in the NII environment was expressed in 
the preliminary draft of its report. The Copyright Awareness Campaign 
will bring together public and private educators, representing all 
levels of elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education, as well 
as copyright owners and users to formulate public awareness strategies 
and develop model curricula regarding the use of protected intellectual 
property on the NII. In addition to developing substantive curricula, 
the campaign will also explore how best to disseminate such curricula. 
The ultimate goal of the campaign is to identify the intellectual 
property issues that the public must be aware of in the NII 
environment, and to determine the methods by which such information may 
be disseminated to the public. The campaign is not intended to be a 
forum for further elaboration on the issue of educational fair use, 
which is currently under discussion in the Conference on Fair Use that 
began last September. The campaign is concerned with educating the 
public on the importance of respecting intellectual property rights 
generally, with a particular focus on the NII environment.

    Dated: March 3, 1995.
Bruce A. Lehman,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and 
Trademarks.
[FR Doc. 95-5666 Filed 3-7-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-M