oppose H.R.3261

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Robert

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Representative Stark
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Robert



February 26, 2004

[recipient address was inserted here]

Dear [recipient name was inserted here],

Despite years of negotiation, H.R. 3261 is not acceptable to libraries and 
other opponents.

H.R. 3261 is simply not necessary. Existing laws are adequate to protect 
the interests of the database producers, who have yet to prove that their 
businesses have suffered because of any failure in the law. 

H.R. 3261 gives broad protections to database producers and will lead to 
reduced competition in the database market and increased costs to 
libraries at a time when the cost of academic journals and access to 
technical, scientific and medical information is already prohibitively 
expensive for many libraries. H.R. 3261 is too vague and will add to 
uncertainty in the law and increase the likelihood of litigation. 

H.R. 3261 makes it permissible, in effect, to copyright facts - a practice 
never allowed under copyright law.  By doing so, the bill could give 
database producers both retroactive and perpetual rights to a wide variety 
of information. 

Sincerely,

Robert