SPA Greets White House Report as "Milestone on the Digital Highway"

There Are No Border Guards in Cyberspace

September 5, 1995 (Washington, DC) - The Software Publishers Association
(SPA) greeted the release of a White House task force's final report on
intellectual property law and U.S. proposals for a new international
agreement as important steps in building interactive telecommunications
networks -- so-called "digital highways" -- throughout the U.S. and around
the world. Because the report recommends certain changes in laws
protecting intellectual property--the very lifeblood of the computer
software industry, SPA will closely compare the report with its own
recommendations for digital highways.

"The SPA congratulates Commerce Secretary Ron Brown for leading the White
House Task Force on the NII to this milestone," said SPA President Ken
Wasch. "The Final Report is an important step in the effort by Assistant
Secretary Bruce Lehman to ensure that digital highways will be an
environment in which business, education, health care, and government
services will flourish."

During the two years leading to the Final Report, SPA testified and
submitted comments supporting several preliminary proposals made by the
White House Task Force last year. At international conferences since then,
SPA has identified the following steps as critical to the success of
digital highways:

* Copyright law must be retained without dilution or distortion in
interactive telecommunications networks.

* Interfering with technological protection and copyright management
information should be prohibited.

* Network users should be educated to respect copyright on digital
highways.

* Contract law should be clarified for transacting business on digital
highways.

* Strong encryption must be available for network users to safeguard
transmissions of confidential information and copyrighted works.

The final report has been long awaited by software developers and
publishers, many of whom are already distributing the many types of
computer programs and multimedia works needed to do business, learn, and
to play on the digital highway. Networking systems will run office
computers and regional telecommunications services, and enable people to
work with distant colleagues as if they were alongside. Communications and
navigational software, such ac Internet browsers and gophers, will act as
guides through huge databases, and so-called "intelligent agents" will
help make the NII an integral part of daily life.

"Without an abundance of cutting-edge software, the digital highway will
not realize its full potential to enrich the daily life of millions of
people," said Wasch. "But if the value of that software is not recognized
by the law, then publishers will have little incentive to make their best
software available on the networks. To maintain that incentive, it is
essential that intellectual property law assure software publishers that
electronically distributed computer programs and multimedia titles are
fully protected."

Making digital highways safe for copyrighted works is also an international
objective. For practical purposes, computer software on the Internet is
available in every country where there is a computer and a modem. To
ensure that copyrighted works are adequately protected on
telecommunications networks in other countries, a U.S. delegation in
Geneva, Switzerland yesterday proposed that an international agreement
covering the "digital agenda" discussed in the final report be reached
next year.

"The changes needed to protect transmissions of computer programs and
multimedia titles in the United States are just as needed in other
countries," said SPA Counsel Mark Traphagen, who was on hand for the U.S.
proposal at the World Intellectual Property Organization, where a possible
new international copyright agreement is being discussed by delegations
from over 50 countries. "That is why SPA supports the U.S. effort to
extend the 'digital agenda' internationally. Already, the final report has
inspired the European Commission, Australia, and several other governments
to take action."

"There are no border guards in cyberspace," said Wasch. "The future for
many software publishers is with our major trading partners and the Big
Emerging Markets of Latin America and Asia, where rising computer sales
and telecom deregulation are creating a burgeoning demand for software.
From the outset, Assistant Secretary Lehman has understood this and just
how important it is to gain international acceptance of the digital
agenda."

The Software Publishers Association is the principal trade association of
the personal computer software industry. Its 1,200 members represent the
leading publishers in the business, consumer, and education markets. The
SPA has offices in Washington, DC, and Paris, France.

Software Publishers Association
1730 M St, Northwest, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036
202-452-1600,  Fax: 202-223-8756
 
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