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- Table of Contents -

Introduction to the online version

Chapter 1 – The Commission and Its Recommendations

Chapter 2 – The Establishment, Mandate, and Activities of the Commission

Chapter 3 – Computers and Copyright

Chapter 4 – Machine Reproduction – Photocopying

- Recommendations of the Commission

- Recommendation for Amending One Area of the 1976 Copyright Act

- Recommendations Concerning the Five-Year Review of Photocopying Practices

- Recommendations to Publishers

- Recommendations to Government Agencies

- Provisions of the 1976 Copyright Act Affecting Photocopying

- CONTU Guidelines on Photocopying under Interlibrary Loan Arrangements

- Volume of Library Photocopying in 1976

- Means of Obtaining Permission to Make Photocopies or to Obtain Authorized Copies under the 1976 Copyright Act

- Interrelated Economics of Publishing and Libraries and the Impact of Copying Fees

- Legislation and Systems Relating to Photocopying in Other Countries

- Recommendations of Interested Organizations

- Effects of Future Technological Change

Chapter 5 – Summary

Appendix A – Summary of the Legislative History of Computer-Related Issues and the Photocopy Issue

Appendix B – Public Law 93-573 and Public Law 95-146

Appendix C – Commissioners

Appendix D – Staff

Appendix E – Lists of Witnesses

Appendix F – Alphabetical Listing of Persons Appearing before the Commission

Appendix G – Transcripts of Commission Meetings

Appendix H – Summaries of Commission-Sponsored Studies

Appendix I – Bibliography

Appendix J – Selected Provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976 and Copyright Office Regulations


Full table of contents


PDF version of the report

Picture of commissioners and staff

Final Report of the National Commission on New Technology Uses of Copyrighted Works


Chapter 4 – Machine Reproduction – Photocopying

Recommendations of Interested Organizations

On October 21, 1977, and April 28, 1978, representatives of the principal library, author, and publisher organizations concerned with photocopying, other than for classroom use, ap­peared before the Commission to make recom­mendations regarding the Commission’s final report.263 Testimony was presented by repre­sentatives of the Council of National Library Associations’ Ad Hoc Committee on Copyright Practice and Implementation, which includes {Page 78} representatives of the following library organiza­tions: Special Libraries Association, Music Li­brary Association, Medical Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, American Li­brary Association, and American Association of Law Libraries. On the same days, represen­tatives of the Authors’ League of America, Inc., and the Association of American Publish­ers also testified. All three groups stated that they wished to see how the provisions relating to photocopying in the 1976 Copyright Act would work in practice. They stated that they did not wish to suggest amendments to the 1976 Act at this time, but preferred to make such recommendations, if any, to the Register of Copyrights under the provisions of section 108 (i), which requires the Register of Copyrights to report to Congress in 1983 on how successfully section 108 has worked out in practice.

Two organizations with which the Commis­sion had contracts to prepare studies on copy­right issues from the point of view of consumers and the general public recommended changes in the 1976 Copyright Act at the July 1977 Com­mission hearings.264 The Public Interest Eco­nomics Center and the Public Interest Satellite Association proposed that the 1976 Act be amended to remove all restrictions on photo­copying except copying for commercial resale. The full text of their recommendations may be found in the reports of the two organizations cited in Appendix H.


Next section: Effects of Future Technological Change


263 Transcript, CONTU Meetings No.17 and 21.

264 Transcript, CONTU Meeting No. 15.