databases 1996: Database Protection Legislation In May 1996, Rep. Carlos Moorhead (Chair, House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, R-CA) introduced the Database Investment and Intellectual Property Antipiracy Act of 1996 (H.R. 3531). The legislation was comparable to a European sponsored initiative to protect databases for 15 years from unauthorized extractions of more than an insubstantial part of the database contents. A variety of bills were introduced until 1999. Discussions on this extremely controversial legislation continued throughout 2002, with congressional staff trying to craft a compromise bill. mds 1996: Princeton University Press, MacMillan Inc., and St. Martin’s Press v. Michigan Document Services, Inc., and James Smith In November 1996, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in an eight to five ruling in favor of publishers who sued Michigan Document Services (MDS). MDS was an off-campus, for-profit photocopy shop whose owner, James Smith, made coursepacks that included substantial portions of copyright protected books and sold them to students. Smith claimed his use of the material was a fair use and in February 1996 the same court had ruled in his favor. However, in April 1996 the judges of the court voted to rehear the case en banc, leading to the November ruling. MDS appealed the case in January 1997; however, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

trips 1996: TRIPS Agreement In December 1994, President Clinton signed the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) which implemented the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) including Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs). Provisions in the URAA amended US copyright law. On January 1, 1996, copyright for works from eligible countries was restored. wipo 1996: World Intellectual Property Organization (W.I.P.O.) Delegates from 160 countries considered two treaties on international intellectual property law during a Diplomatic Conference convened in December 1996 in Geneva, Switzerland. The delegates adopted new versions of the proposed treaties resulting in a new approach to copyright issues. The Conference adopted a statement ensuring the two treaties would “permit application of fair use in the digital environment.” The treaty language emphasized “the need to maintain a balance between the rights of authors and the larger public interest, particularly education, research and access to information.”