Re: Status of Conference on Fair Use (CONFU)

On Mon, 16 Nov 1998, Steve Smith <sb_smith[_at_]sprynet.com> wrote:
>
> Do any educators or librarians have a handle on the status of CONFU
> fair use guidelines? The last I heard, the distance learning and
> digital images guidelines were hopelessly stalled, while the
> educational multimedia ones gained some acceptance in trial use
> situations.
>
> Unfortunately, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
> http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/confu/conclutoc.html is
> only up-to-date to the end of CONFU Phase One in September 1997.
> Now, however, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, recently signed
> into law, contains the following interesting provision:
>
> TITLE IV -- MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
> SEC. 403. LIMITATIONS ON EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS; DISTANCE EDUCATION.
>
> (a) RECOMMENDATIONS BY REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS. -- Not later
> than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
>
> Register of Copyrights, after consultation with representatives
> of copyright owners, nonprofit educational institutions, and
> nonprofit libraries and archives, shall submit to the Congress
> recommendations on how to promote distance education through
> digital technologies, including interactive digital networks,
> while maintaining an appropriate balance between the rights of
> copyright owners and the needs of users of copyrighted works.
> Such recommendations shall include any legislation the Register
> of Copyrights considers appropriate to achieve the objective
> described in the preceding sentence.
>
> Does this mean that (at least for distance learning guidelines) CONFU
> has been scrapped or will take on another form as the Register begins
> consultations?

I, for one, don't know if CONFU will ever fly again. I hope it does, though. Guidelines help.

--
Glen (McKay) Gummess, M.A. Ed.
AV Services Coordinator
New Mexico Junior College
5317 Lovington Highway
Hobbs, NM  88240
(505) 392-5468 (voice)
gmckay[_at_]nmjc.cc.nm.us