On May 29, the UCITA Standby Committee submitted 38 amendments to UCITA. The amendments respond to criticisms from the ABA, not the ALA, but some of them will definitely help libraries. Here's my quick take on the relevant amendments. I'd like to hear from anyone who sees official responses to these amendments from library groups.
Amendment #3 would block enforcement of licensing terms that try to prohibit "lawful public comment". Amendment #6 would block enforcemenet of licensing terms that try to prohibit "reverse engineering" of lawfully obtained software in order to make that software interoperable with "independently created" software (some exceptions apply). Amendment #8 would block enforcement of any terms in a shrink-wrap or other "mass-market license" that users could not review prior to the act of agreement, and in some cases vendors must give refunds when licensing terms are refused. Amendment #11 would remove implied warranties from free software. Amendment #12 would allow consumers of products with shrink-wrap licenses to transfer their rights to others when they donate the products to public schools, public libraries, or other consumers. Amendment #13 wouuld legalize some kinds of "electronic self-help" (difficult to summarize without access to the provisions not being amended).
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/31/2002 09:55:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
