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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In May, the US Congress reintroduced the bipartisan NO FAKES Act with language negotiated by the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) that excludes libraries from liability. A House Congressional Committee advanced H.R. 6028, the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act, under which the librarian of Congress would be appointed and removed by a congressional committee rather than the president; the bill would also decouple the US Copyright Office (USCO) from the Library of Congress. In a Copyright Office oversight hearing, Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter signaled the USCO’s priorities on several issues that are relevant to research libraries.
In 2027, a US district court will hear a trial in a case concerning a research database of copyrighted images compiled by academic AI researchers; read on for a summary of the case and analysis of potential implications for research libraries.
Negotiations on copyright limitations and exceptions began during the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meeting.
At the ABC Copyright Conference in Canada, CARL and ARL delivered a joint presentation on how publisher contracts prohibiting the use of licensed content for AI training pose serious risks to research and scholarship, and potential activities for CARL and ARL.
ARL continues to advocate for robust funding for the US Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in the FY 2027 budget cycle. In Canada, CARL’s pre-budget submission included recommendations for federal investment in Canadian research libraries and knowledge infrastructure.
The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed revisions to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2 CFR Part 200), with serious implications for library subscriptions and publication costs. ARL has made this initial statement and will be coordinating a formal public comment with our members and external partners.
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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Copyright and Fair Use/Fair Dealing
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NO FAKES Act Reintroduced in Congress with Language Excluding Libraries from Liability
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Last week, bipartisan sponsors of the NO FAKES Act in the House and Senate introduced an updated version of the bill.
The fundamentals of the bill are unchanged from previously introduced versions. NO FAKES would create an intellectual property (IP) right in an individual’s visual likeness and voice; the right is inheritable and renewable for up to 70 years postmortem. Individuals or entities who create or use an unauthorized digital replica of someone’s voice or visual likeness could be civilly liable.
The latest version of the bill includes language negotiated by the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) excluding nonprofit libraries or archives from liability.
Another new provision is a safe harbor that would bar online service providers from liability if they adopt and implement a termination policy for users who repeatedly share unauthorized digital replicas, and remove or disable access to unauthorized digital replicas upon receipt of a notice from a rights holder. It is stricter than the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in that the service provider must prevent reposting of the digital replica. In other words, the bill creates a notice-and-staydown regime, rather than the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown regime.
The bill is explicit that this is an IP right for the purpose of the Section 230 safe harbor. LCA and others have raised concerns that this could lead to a proliferation of litigation concerning any use of deepfakes, or censorship of deepfakes by interactive computer services that wish to avoid lawsuits.
ARL has explained that regulating the creation and use of deepfakes by creating a new IP right could also have a chilling effect on lawful speech if it does not include fair use–like protections.
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US House Panel Advances Legislation Governing Library of Congress and Copyright Office
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Members of the US Committee on House Administration unanimously passed an amended version of H.R. 6028, the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act, during a May 14 markup. The next step would be for the full House to take up the measure.
The bill would shift the power to appoint and remove the librarian of Congress from the president to a congressional commission comprising the bicameral and bipartisan leadership of the House and Senate. Additionally, the bill would shift the power to appoint the register of copyrights from the librarian to the president. Thus, the register would no longer report to the librarian.
The text of the bill says, “The Register shall consult with the Librarian of Congress before establishing any regulation under this title that affects the authority, rights, or access of the Library of Congress under this title with respect to any material deposited in the Copyright Office” (emphasis added). The reference to “access” raises concerns that a presidentially appointed register could potentially implement regulations affecting how the library can access content in the long term, which could have implications for interlibrary loan.
ARL will continue to monitor this bill.
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Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter Addresses Library Priorities During US Copyright Office Oversight Hearing
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During a May Copyright Office oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter testified about an array of issues on ARL’s information policy agenda.
Perlmutter expressed support for US copyright law, including fair use, to address issues around AI training, and said that amending the Copyright Act is not necessary. This aligns with LCA’s position that the act can address issues at the intersection of AI and copyright without amendment. Perlmutter also called for some Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) exemptions to be made permanent. ARL is working with the office of Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) on a bill to enact permanent DMCA exemptions for accessibility uses.
Perlmutter also indicated support for legislation on site blocking and secondary infringement; ARL will monitor Congress for legislative action on these issues.
Read more on the ARL Views blog: “US Copyright Register Perlmutter Addresses Law and Policy Issues During Oversight Hearing.”
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AI Academic Research Case Heads to Trial in 2027
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A US District Court is scheduled to hear EVOX Productions v. Stanford in 2027, a case in which the lawfulness of AI researchers’ use of copyrighted images scraped from the open web is at stake.
The case began in December 2024 when EVOX Productions sued Stanford University, Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, and University of Michigan for copyright infringement. Rice and Baylor were dismissed from the case over jurisdictional issues; Michigan was also dismissed. The case concerns a subset of images in which EVOX claimed copyright ownership; the images are part of a larger academic AI research database that Stanford researchers created by scraping, organizing, and compiling online images.
EVOX alleged direct copyright infringement for the reproduction, distribution, and public display of the images without authorization, and contributory infringement for making the datasets available for download with the expectation that third parties would reproduce, distribute, and publicly display the images. Separately, EVOX claimed that Stanford induced infringement by distributing the datasets containing EVOX’s copyrighted images “for the express purpose of allowing other researchers to confirm the validity of its underlying research.”
The court allowed the direct copyright infringement claims to proceed. However, the judge found that Stanford’s purpose was academic research and reproducibility rather than inducing infringement, and dismissed the inducement theory of the contributory infringement claim. Stanford asserts that its scraping and compilation of images for AI research purposes constitutes fair use.
A trial is currently scheduled for 2027. ARL will monitor this case for implications for the use of unlicensed data in nonprofit academic research settings.
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WIPO Committee Begins Negotiations on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions
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During the 48th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the committee agreed to begin text-based work on an instrument on copyright limitations and exceptions based on a detailed proposal by the African Group and less robust proposals by the US delegation. According to the chair’s summary of the meeting, “in order to facilitate substantive discussions under this longstanding agenda item at SCCR 49, the Chair will prepare an informal document focusing on the following topics: First, limitations and exceptions for preservation. Second, limitations and exceptions for the benefit of people with other disabilities. And third, limitations and exceptions for education.”
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CARL & ARL Present “The AI Research Problem That Only Libraries See” at ABC Copyright Conference
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At the May ABC Copyright Conference, CARL and ARL delivered a joint presentation on how publisher contracts prohibiting the use of licensed content for AI training pose serious risks to research and scholarship. The presentation expanded on discussions with ARL’s Advocacy and Public Policy Committee at the Spring 2026 Association Meeting, where Canadian and US research libraries identified strategies to raise awareness and strengthen library negotiating positions.
Potential next steps include:
- Revisiting CARL and ARL statements on nondisclosure clauses
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Developing community standards—including shared priorities and redlines—for AI training clauses
- Incorporating perspectives and real-world stories from scholars and faculty to inform and strengthen negotiations
CARL, ARL, and our respective committees will continue to discuss ways to advance these steps.
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SPARC Highlights Federal Purpose License in Statement on GAO Public Access Report
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Federal Funding for Library Priorities
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CARL Pre-budget Submission Prioritizes Federal Investment in Canadian Research Libraries & Knowledge Infrastructure
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In a brief on the 2026 federal budget, CARL made the following three recommendations to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance:
Invest $40 Million per year into a new Research in French Support and Promotion Fund (RFSPF) and assure that libraries are recognized as integral players in the dissemination infrastructure and in knowledge promotion. Creating and disseminating scientific information in French, and recognizing the work of librarians as contributors to science by valuing their role in research data management, open science and scientific mediation in French, will support open science and research sovereignty.
Invest $7M over three years through the Tri-Agency and the Research Support Fund to enable Canadian research libraries to build the repository infrastructure and researcher support services required for successful implementation of the revised Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications. CARL supports the Tri-Agency’s revised policy, which requires immediate deposit of author-accepted manuscripts or versions of record into a Canadian institutional repository at the time of publication, under an open license. Federal investment can mitigate the additional strain on library resources by supporting libraries in upgrading repository infrastructure, expanding author support services, and national coordination.
Continue to recognize, support and appropriately invest in Libraries and Archives Canada (LAC) so that it can fulfill its vital role and obligations in preserving Canada’s documentary and cultural heritage, providing accessible knowledge, and serving as the enduring memory of the federal government. CARL commends the Government of Canada’s commitment to the preservation of Canadian history and identity. The recommendation points out the need for ongoing sufficient funding to support programs like Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP), which provides Canadians with access to federal records, and the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP), an initiative that provided support to local histories societies and community archives to document, preserve and make accessible local and regional historical content that otherwise may be lost; the DHCP was unfortunately ended due to recent budget cuts.
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ARL Advocates for Robust Funding for Institute of Museum and Library Services
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On June 9, the US House Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) subcommittee will markup the LHHS appropriations bill that funds the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS); legislative text is forthcoming. The FY 2027 President’s Budget Request proposes to “eliminate” IMLS and includes $6 million to “close out” the agency. ARL joined this letter to appropriators asking for robust funding for IMLS.
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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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