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H.R. 801 “The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act”

Overview

Wasting no time in the 111th Congress, Rep. Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, introduced H.R. 801, “The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act,” on February 3, 2009.  Unfortunately, this not-so-new bill seeking to amend copyright code and create a new category of copyright work differs only in bill number assigned — from its predecessor in the 110th Congress (H.R. 6845) (that ultimately died in the House Judiciary Committee).

And just as in the last Congress, H.R. 801 negates or reverses the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy currently in place, rolling back hard-fought progress on public access to taxpayer-funded NIH research on the Internet.  The bill would effectively reverse the NIH Public Access Policy, as well as make it impossible for other federal agencies to put similar policies into place.

Message: The ALA strongly opposes H.R. 801 as it seeks to amend copyright law and reverse the NIH Public Access Policy.

Advocacy & Legislative History

After the bill was introduced, the ALA issued an alert urging its members to contact their representatives on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to voice their opposition to H.R. 801.

Also in response to the bill, the ALA joined the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and several other national and regional library and advocacy organization to send a letter to the members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee expressing our long-standing and strong support for the NIH Public Access Policy. In addition, the letter addressed the misconception that the policy affects the rights of authors, specifically copyright. Included, as an attachment to the letter, is the SPARC-sponsored analysis that outlines why the NIH Public Access policy does not affect copyright law.

Looking ahead, at the point at which there is additional bill activity, ALA will communicate with its members to initiate additional, appropriately targeted advocacy activity. 

Additional Information on H.R. 801

H.R. 801 seeks to amend current copyright code and create a new category of copyrighted work and would also reverse the NIH Public Access Policy, which grants millions of Americans access to vital health care information through the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central database. According to SPARC, under the current policy, nearly 3,000 new biomedical manuscripts resulting from National Institute of Health (NIH) tax-payer-funded research are deposited for public accessibility each month. Each manuscript is deposited within 12 months after the publication date, as the NIH Public Access Policy adheres to the agreed upon 12-month embargo period. H.R. 801 would prohibit the deposit of these manuscripts, seriously impeding the ability of researchers, physicians, health care professionals, and families to access and use this critical health-related information in a timely manner.

H.R. 801, if passed, would:

    1. Prohibit all U.S. federal agencies from conditioning funding agreements to require that works resulting from federal support be made publicly available if those works are either: a) funded in part by sources other than a U.S. agency, or b) the result of "meaningful added value" to the work from an entity that is not party to the agreement.

    2. Prohibit U.S. agencies from obtaining a license to publicly distribute, perform, or display such work by, for example, placing it on the Internet.

    3. Stifle access to a broad range of federally funded works, overturning the crucially important NIH Public Access Policy and preventing other agencies from implementing similar policies.

    4. Because it is so broadly framed, the proposed bill would require an overhaul of the well-established procurement rules in effect for all federal agencies, and could disrupt day-to-day procurement practices across the federal government.

    5. Repeal the longstanding "federal purpose" doctrine, under which all federal agencies that fund the creation of a copyrighted work reserve the "royalty-free, nonexclusive right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work" for any federal purpose. This will severely limit the ability of U.S. federal agencies to use works that they have funded to support and fulfill agency missions and to communicate with and educate the public.

Because of the NIH Public Access Policy, millions of Americans now have access to vital health care information through the PubMed Central database. Under the current policy, nearly 3,000 new biomedical manuscripts are deposited for public accessibility each month.  H.R.801 would prohibit the deposit of these manuscripts, seriously impeding the ability of researchers, physicians, health care professionals, faculty, students, families and library patrons to access and use this critical health-related information in a timely manner.

Past Legislation

In the 110th Congress, U.S Rep. Conyers introduced H.R. 6845, the "Fair Copyright in Research Works Act." The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property held a hearing on September 11, 2008 on the bill. (A video webcast and a transcript of the hearing is available here.)  The bill ultimately died in the 110th Congress – however, the exact same text of H.R. 6845 re-emerged in the 111th Congress as H.R. 801.

Related Resources

  • NIH Open Access Policy - The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that result from taxpayer-funded NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication.  To help advance science and improve human health, the Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.

  • Alliance for Taxpayer Access  (ATA) – The American Library Association is a member of the ATA which is a coalition of more than 80 associations, educational institutions, researchers, physicians, patient groups and publishers that support barrier free access to taxpayer-funded research.