September 29, 1998
Senator Olympia J. Snowe
Senate Commerce Committee
SR-250
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senator Snowe,
I am writing on behalf of the Association for Computing Machinery's Public Policy Committee to thank you for your letter to Senator Hatch regarding the database section of the WIPO legislation (H.R. 2281). We agree with you that legislation that could harm the US scientific enterprise should not be passed without a full and open debate on its potential effects.
We believe the proposed measure may have substantial negative impacts on the conduct of basic research. In fact, such intellectual property protections for data that ignore the traditional fair use privileges under which scientists always have operated could slow the progress of important technology developments, and reduce beneficial economic returns of research and development to society. We understand the desire to protect commercial investments made in large data collections, but the proposed legislation fails to recognize the legitimate needs of academic, professional, scientific, and ordinary users of important collections of data.
The Association for Computing Machinery is an international professional society whose 80,000 members (60,000 in the US) represent a critical mass of computer scientists in education, industry, and government. The USACM provides a means for promoting dialogue on technology policy issues with United States policy makers and the general public. Please contact Lauren Gelman at (202)452-1478 if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Dr. Charles N. Brownstein
Chair
US Public Policy Committee
Association for Computing Machinery