April 20, 1998
The Honorable Newt Gingrich
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Speaker:
On behalf of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society, I urge you to delay bringing H.R. 2652, the Collection of Information Antipiracy Act, before the House of Representatives until such a time that Congress has had a chance to thoroughly consider its ramifications for American science. AAAS is on record as having raised several concerns with the approach taken by the bill and remains steadfast in its belief that further discussion is required before proceeding. The lack of resolution of the concerns that the scientific community has raised are acknowledged in the decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to convene a meeting on April 28 to assess the issues and proposals related to database protection and access.
Although H.R. 2652 ostensibly carves out special status for scientific and educational uses, this exception is triggered only if users can show that the use will not harm actual or potential markets. What appears to be a privileged exception, therefore, is no exception at all, and we worry about the impediments this provision will pose to the "full and open access" principle that has served science and the public interest so well. As you know, scientific knowledge is cumulative. Rather than repeating experiments, scientists rely on the results of previously performed experiments and observations to continue to expand the bounds of knowledge. The chilling effect on scientists of the threat of burdensome civil litigation over what have historically been routine practices essential to teaching and research cannot be overestimated.
Most databases have a sole source -- be it a stock exchange, human genome research, or a sociological survey. H.R. 2652 would permit sole-source providers to impose monopolistic terms on those seeking access to critical information. As a result, the costs of doing research will increase, while access to valuable data will be made more difficult, if not denied, thus discouraging the subsequent exploitation of data to the detriment of our economy and social progress. These effects are in contrast to the gains expected by both the Administration and Congress in proposals to increase funding for scientific research.
To understand the potential adverse effects of this legislation, one need only compare it to existing copyright law. The latter protects only the expression of the scientists' facts, theories, data, and findings, but none of these items as such. So, for example, the National Library of Medicine routinely archives the data contained in some 5,000 journals without license or permission because they are not protected by the existing intellectual property system. In contrast, H.R. 2652 would include these same collections of information in stronger and longer lasting bundles of exclusive rights than copyright affords, and risk removing from the public domain critical data the scientific and educational communities rely on.
Founded in 1848, AAAS enrolls over 143,000 scientists, engineers, science educators, policy makers, and others interested in science and technology worldwide, and is the publisher of Science magazine. Representatives of the Association's 235 affiliated scientific societies -- including the Association for Computing, the American Society for Microbiology, the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Library Association, and the American Society of Agronomy -- have raised similar concerns in letters to the Judiciary Committee, the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, and the Science Committee on this matter. Serious concerns about this legislation have also been raised by numerous commercial institutions, which are not addressed in this letter but need to be considered as well. If upon continued reflection and debate the conclusion is that new protection for databases is the only solution, then the scientific community seeks a balanced and carefully framed approach that provides adequate protection for our members' work while also encouraging full and open sharing of scientific information. For these reasons, we respectively request that you defer consideration of the bill in Congress at this time.
Sincerely,
Richard S. Nicholson
AAAS Executive Officer