Expect Resistance & Library Autonomous Zone

By Tearing Open That Cardboard Box, Are You Also Signing on the Dotted Line? - By J. D. BIERSDORFER, New York Times, October 3, 2005

This article is about patented products and how companies (specifically Lexmark, the printer cartridge maker) are trying (and succeeding) to force limitations based on licensing.

I was thinking about this very issue last week as I attended the Web workshop entitled, “Shrink-wrap Licenses and Click-through Licenses: Why Should Information Professionals Care?” put on by the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). The seminar was largely a dud IMHO, because it simply discussed the different types of licenses that libraries deal with in order to access information. There was no discussion whatsoever regarding the larger issue for libraries.

Specifically, what’s the effect on libraries of information shifting from a copyright system to a licensing system? We used to have a fairly strong and solid base of first sale, public domain, and fair use on which to build our collections. Now however, more and more information from CDs to article databases is being licensed to libraries. Libraries are losing control of their collections and I don’t even hear a peep of concern.

This is not something that has just snuck up on libraries. We let this happen when we allowed publishers to start licensing access to article databases 20+ years ago instead of demanding to own the digital content.

Fred von Lohmann, a senior attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and author of a 2004 amicus brief supporting ACRA, said he was more concerned about future implications of the decision.

“This certainly sent a very strong message to patent holders generally, and Lexmark in particular, that you can use these labels in order to
restrict what your customers can do with the product after they buy it,” he said.

Mr. von Lohmann gave several hypothetical examples of how box-top licenses could be used, including automobile manufacturers who might put a label on a new car stating that by opening the door for the first time, the new owner agreed to use only the manufacturer’s replacement parts and to avoid modifying the car. “Owners of patents would love to be able to control what you can do with a product after you buy it,” he said. “That’s new. The rule for most of a century has been, ‘You buy it, you own it.’ ”

Sounds like the first sale doctrine of copyright eh?!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2005 at 9:38 am and is filed under Digital Library Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.