Katherine Klosek, Director, Information Policy and Federal Relations, ARL
Contributions from the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) by Katherine McColgan, Manager, Administration and Programs, CARL
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This month, the Trump administration extended the compliance dates for web content and mobile app accessibility as required by the updated Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title II regulations. In a win for the general public and information advocates, a federal court ruled that startup UpCodes can continue to publish copyrighted standards online. Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) counsel Jonathan Band testified in a congressional hearing against the Pro Codes Act, a bill that would grant exclusive control over copyrighted standards to private entities. And, the president’s budget request kicked off the FY 2027 federal appropriations process with proposed cuts to library and research funding agencies.
LCA and CARL joined a letter to delegates of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) supporting a proposal on copyright limitations and exceptions.
Canada held by-elections on April 13 for three ridings previously held by the Liberal Party, which became vacant as former MP Chrystia Freeland was appointed economic advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; former MP Bill Blair was appointed high commissioner for Canada in the United Kingdom; and the riding of Terrebonne, Québec, won by Liberal MP Tatiana Auguste, had been highly contested by the Bloc Québécois owing to the slim margin of winning. All three ridings were won by the Liberal candidates. These victories, combined with several floor crossings in the last few months, have given Prime Minister Mark Carney a majority government.
CARL continues to meet with political staff in the offices of the minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) and the minister of Canadian Heritage (PCH), whose portfolios align largely with the work of CARL, particularly in the areas of copyright legislation and artificial intelligence. The meetings were an opportunity for CARL to meet with new policy advisors to reinforce the importance of fair dealing for educational purposes, to share how educational materials are acquired and the associated licensing pitfalls, and to signal libraries’ interest and expertise as it relates to AI.
Read on for more details!
The monthly Public Policy Briefing highlights developments in ARL’s public policy priorities, issues that are relevant to the research library community in the United States and Canada, and details on advocacy conducted by ARL and CARL. Please encourage your colleagues to sign up for the Public Policy Briefing.
If you have questions or suggestions, please email me at kklosek@arl.org.
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Copyright and Fair Use/Fair Dealing
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Federal Funding for Library Priorities
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Trump Administration Extends ADA Title II Compliance Deadline
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The US Department of Justice issued an interim final rule on April 20 extending the compliance dates for web content and mobile app accessibility as required by the updated Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title II regulations. The compliance date for state and local government entities with a total population of 50,000 or more is extended from April 24, 2026, to April 26, 2027. The compliance date for public entities with a total population of less than 50,000, or any special district government, is extended from April 26, 2027, to April 26, 2028.
Last month, ARL requested a meeting with the administration to discuss its proposed interim final rule, but the administration canceled the meeting request with an email saying “the rule is no longer under review.”
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Copyright and Fair Use/Fair Dealing
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Court Rules in Favor of Public Access to Information
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In a win for information advocates and the public, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM) was unlikely to succeed on its claim that online research platform UpCodes infringed copyright by posting ASTM building standards on its website.
UpCodes hosts a database of building codes and standards. ASTM, a private standards development organization, sued UpCodes for copyright and trademark infringement for publishing ASTM standards that have been incorporated by reference into law. In an earlier stage of the case, a district court denied ASTM’s motion for a preliminary injunction, reasoning that ASTM was unlikely to succeed on the merits because UpCodes’s copying constitutes fair use. On April 7, the third circuit agreed with the district court’s decision and denied the preliminary injunction.
For more, please see the ARL Views blog post “Court Rules in Favor of Public Access to Information.”
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Library Copyright Alliance Testifies Against Pro Codes Act
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In a hearing of the US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet on the Pro Codes Act, Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) counsel Jonathan Band testified about how Pro Codes would distort the legal doctrine that libraries rely on to provide public access to the law.
Band’s written testimony explains how courts consider edicts of government at all levels to be part of the public domain, and uncopyrightable for reasons of public policy. The Pro Codes Act would reverse this foundational legal principle by affirming copyright ownership over standards that are developed by standards development organizations (SDOs) and incorporated by reference into law.
Pro Codes would codify existing restrictive practices of SDOs that provide read-only access through websites with limited functionality, and require users to create an account or agree to the terms of service of a website or organization to access material online. Exclusive copyright ownership would allow SDOs to further restrict users from downloading, printing, copying, annotating, translating, text-mining, incorporating into secondary works, sharing the standards with colleagues, or other lawful uses.
During the hearing, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) asked whether the Pro Codes Act would create a two-tiered system of access to the law, with better access available only to those who are able to pay. Rep. Lofgren cited an amicus brief in the case ASTM v. Public.Resource.org, in which the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) made the point that Black and low-income communities are at a legal disadvantage without access to information contained within technical standards. In response, Band agreed that Pro Codes creates a two-tiered system of access to the law by allowing the posting of a PDF with limited functionality to count as “access” under the law.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)—the lead sponsor of the Pro Codes Act in the House—asked Band a series of questions about whether monetizing standards is fair use, to which Band responded that it depends on the specific circumstances. Band suggested that Congress should support direct incorporation of standards into legal codes, rather than incorporation by reference. This would clarify what is the law, and therefore in the public domain, and what isn’t.
On the topic of monetization and fair use, Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC) incorrectly claimed that Anthropic lost a lawsuit over training its AI model on copyrighted works, suggesting that profit-motivated AI training is not fair use. Courts have not reached that conclusion.
Rep. Issa confirmed at the close of the hearing that the bill will move to markup via an amendment in the nature of a substitute. He invited witnesses to submit additional input within five legislative days.
For more:
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CARL, LCA Join Letter to WIPO on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions
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The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) joined a letter urging delegates of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) to begin work on a legal instrument on limitations and exceptions based on a proposal by the African Group at the committee’s next meeting.
The African Group proposed copyright limitations and exceptions for research and education; preservation; access; people with disabilities; and technological protection measures that would serve the interests of knowledge institutions and the public. In contrast to other proposals, the African Group uses clear language that can be the starting point for text-based work toward an international legal instrument, such as a treaty.
The letter was drafted by the Access to Knowledge Coalition, whose members include ARL, CARL, ALA, libraries, archives, museums, researchers, educators, and others working toward balanced copyright.
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Federal Funding for Library Priorities
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Trump Administration Proposes Cuts to Library and Research Funding Agencies
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The president’s budget request (PBR) for fiscal year 2027 would impose significant funding cuts to federal science agencies, and proposes changes to some agencies. The PBR is an opening salvo to the federal appropriations process; Congress must ultimately pass appropriations bills or fund the government through a continuing resolution. Nevertheless, it is working taking a look at the request as an indication of the administration’s priorities.
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| Select Provisions from the President’s Budget Request |
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Funding to the National Science Foundation (NSF) would be cut by more than 50%. The budget would eliminate the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate. See the forthcoming issue of the ARL Monitor for more on this. | |
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would be subject to a 12 percent cut. The agency’s congressional budget justification includes language about capping the indirect cost of all research grant awards at 15 percent of the amount payable through each NIH grant. | |
The budget proposes to eliminate funding for several independent agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The budget includes $6 million to close out IMLS. | | The budget does not include funding for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), which is the grantmaking arm of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). | | In the section on the Department of Energy, the administration proposes prohibiting the use of federal funds for expensive subscriptions to academic journals and prohibitively high publishing costs unless required by federal statute or approved in advance by a federal agency. |
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About the Association of Research Libraries
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The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit membership organization of research libraries and archives in major public and private universities, federal government agencies, and large public institutions in Canada and the US. ARL champions research libraries and archives, develops visionary leaders, and shapes policy for the equitable advancement of knowledge.
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