companies want to preserve a world in which they and all Americans enjoy the freedom to innovate new ways to analyze, present, and manipulate readily available information without the burden of new private taxes on access to information.

For this reason, we respectfully urge the Subcommittee not to proceed with H.R. 354 in its present form but rather to work with us and all of the stakeholders to craft a bill that addresses the problems and harms identified by the proponents of H.R. 354 without inadvertently stifling the growth and progress already underway as a result of American leadership in the Information Age.

Mr. COBLE. Mr. Duncan, you gave an example when you said that that would constitute a violation of the Copyright Act. Would you repeat that?

Mr. DUNCAN. Yes. Under the proposed legislation, sir, the harm standard is to duplicate an entire database. Duplicate means to take the entire

Mr. BERMAN. Not under the proposed legislation.

Mr. DUNCAN. Under Mr. Hatch's. The bill that was mentioned by Mr. Hatch that is being proposed by some of the opponents. That would mean, sir, that you would take probably the entire selection and arrangement of that database as well. And even under the Feist decision my understanding is-although I'm not an attorney I have good ones that advise me-is that even under the Feist decision you would not be able to take the entire database, including the selection and arrangement and the other creative elements that are put in there other than factual material.

Mr. COBLE. Thank you, sir. I didn't tie that with what you said. Thank you for clarifying that.

Mr. Henderson.

STATEMENT OF LYNN HENDERSON, PRESIDENT, DOANE AGRICULTURAL SERVICES COMPANY

Mr. HENDERSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the committee. I'll keep my eye on that green button, but please remember I'm from Missouri and we do tend to talk a little slower there.

Mr. COBLE. I would commend all of you, you've done a good job for not abusing that. We are appreciative to you for that.

Mr. HENDERSON. I thank you for the opportunity to testify before you and I want to thank the chairman and the sponsors of H.R. 354 for moving us toward the goal of statutory protection for databases.

I'm the President of Doane Agricultural Services Company, an 80 year old firm located in St. Louis. Our magazines, newsletters, market advisory and forecasting services, books, radio programs reach the entire agricultural industry. The company was founded in 1919 on the premise that we can not have a secure food supply without good information.

I'm also speaking on behalf of the Agricultural Publisher's Association, a coalition of mostly small businesses who provide vital, timely information to the nearly three million individuals who make up America's farming and farming related industries.

Nowhere is access to timely, accurate, usable and comprehensive databases more important than the agricultural and food production industries. For example, one of our products is our agricultural forecast database in which our economists sit down, collect raw data from the USDA and other Government agencies, adding value

by organizing, updating and presenting the information to advise farmers on when the best time is to sell their crops and livestock.

We compile volumes of data on acreage and production prices, crops and supply and demand, livestock, tailored all specifically to assist producers to stay in business to produce food for our country and the world.

Without protection for the significant labor, time and money we clearly won't have the resources to do this, let alone develop new applications of the data for our customers. This was brought home to me one day when I came upon a Web site where, to my horror, I found one of my products, our annual agromarketing services guide. This guide lists 2,000 organizations that are essential to the agricultural industry and requires hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment and thousands of hours of work on my staffs' part to produce annually.

The hard work of our staff in establishing relationships with the firms that they would supply us with the information as well as setting up the distribution and the marketing networks that were necessary were all bypassed by a pirate who was looking to make advertising revenues off of our staff's labor.

We filed a lawsuit against the pirate at considerable time and expense directing him to cease and desist. The pirate could have sought legal ways, I'm told, for continuing to pirate our data because of the lack of adequate protection but he did decide to comply with our request.

This is not an isolated case, nor is it the only way pirates threaten our viability. We face a danger both from the cumulative impact of each person who wants to make a fast buck and sell my product in a one shot deal or use it without paying the customary price as well as from the free rider who wants to regularly republish our information to grow his own information business.

As a practical matter pirates can simply put me out of business, or at least force me to construct so many legal and technological walls around my products that they become far less useful to our Nation's farmers. In fact, I hesitated to testify here today because I realize that there are pirates out there listening to this and if they got wind of our protection I'm advertising our vulnerability at this time.

Now, I'm all for competition in the free market but I want to meet my competitors in the marketplace, not see my products stolen and then used to undersell me.

We would bring many of our printed services on line today if we had the protection that's being offered by H.R. 354 where it is crystal clear that faster and easier access to timely information is useful to farmers. Label changes in herbicides are a perfect example. At this time of year as we get ready for the planting season they must be disseminated quickly for the safety of the farmers, the retailers, the applicators, their families and the consumers.

Today a third of the farm industry uses the Internet and a few years from now I think most will be on line. We'd like to be on line too with all of our products but just as the Internet promises farmers quicker access to better information, in the absence of legal protection it also allows quicker and cheaper pirating.

The Internet's instant distribution of current information promises an important role for on line databases in American farming. However, the very same ease of capturing and transmitting information also paradoxically gives the Internet an equally unprecedented ability to undermine the promise of better information for better farms and farmers in the absence of legal protection by making piracy quick, easy and cheap.

I also want to note the lack of protection to database, especially on the Internet, can reduce firms like myself in emerging markets as well as for our American farmers. In today's global economy we have real potential markets beyond our national borders, markets which we are currently unable to develop because of the lack of this protection. For example, a European grain buyer watching and planning his next move would benefit greatly from my information. Although today we could expand our service via the Internet we can't realistically pursue this avenue until legislation is enacted to protect our databases.

And if this is not then assumed these markets may be lost to us. Last year's EU directly gave European database producers protection, leaving us U.S. businesspeople out in the cold. Not only does this direct the electronic pirates abroad to our American databases, it also encourages European producers to pillage American databases, apparently all under the protection of the European law. This is neither tolerable nor acceptable to me, nor to other American small businessmen.

We need legislation which will help us protect and pursue new markets. People might not have immediately realized it but this legislation would help create new markets for our farmers as well, something we desperately need with the price crisis we have out there today.

Doane adds considerable value to turning the seemingly endless columns of numbers and symbols and raw data from public sources into readily understandable, usable and useful information for American farmers. It is simply wrong that our work is not considered important enough to warrant protection in the aftermath of the Feist decision.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit these comments and for your leadership in holding this hearing.

[The complete statement of Mr. Henderson follows.]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF LYNN HENDERSON, PRESIDENT, DOANE AGRICULTURAL SERVICES COMPANY

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Members of the Committee,

I thank you for the opportunity to testify before you, and I want to thank the Chairman and sponsors of H.R. 354 for moving us forward toward the goal of statutory protection for databases.

I am the President of Doane Agricultural Services Company, an 80 year old firm that is one of the leading providers of information, economic forecasts and computer software for agricultural producers and those who serve them. Our magazine, newsletters, market advisory and forecasting services, books, and radio programs reach the entire agricultural industry. The company was founded in 1919 on the premise that we cannot have a secure food supply without good information. I am also speaking on behalf of the Agriculture Publishers Association, a coalition of mostly small businesses who provide vital and timely information to the nearly 3 million individuals who make up America's farming and farming-related industries. Nowhere is access to timely, accurate, usable and comprehensive databases more important than in the agricultural sector. From the day when the initial cropping decisions and in

vestments are made until the price is set based on the latest marketing conditions, databases contain the information that allows farmers to make the most informed, best possible choices.

One of our products is the Agricultural Forecast database, in which the Doane economists collect raw data from USDA and other government agencies adding value by, organizing, updating and presenting the information to advise farmers on when the best time is to sell their crops and livestock. We compile volumes of data on acreage and production prices, crops and supply, and livestock, tailored specifically to assist farmers in profitable marketing of their crops and livestock.

This was brought home to me one day when I came upon a web-site, where, to my horror, I saw our Agri Marketing Services Guide. This annual guide to the 2,000 plus organizations, essential to the agriculture industry, requires thousands of hours of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars to collect and compile information. The hard work of our staff, from establishing relationships with firms so they agree to participate in the sharing of data to the setting up of distribution networks, was bypassed by this fellow, who was looking to make advertising revenue off of our labors.

We filed a lawsuit against that pirate at my considerable time and expense, asking him to cease and desist. This pirate could have sought legal ways, I am told, for continuing to pirate our data because of the lack of adequate protection, but, decided to comply.

This was not an isolated case nor is it the only way pirates threaten our viability. We face a danger both from the cumulative impact of each person who wants to make a fast buck and sell my product in a one-shot deal or use it without paying the customary price, as well as from the free-rider who wants to regularly re-publish our information to grow his own information business. As a practical matter, pirates could simply put me out of business or at least force me to construct so many legal and technological walls around our products that they become far less useful to this Nation's farmers. I hesitated to testify today because I realized that if he or others caught wind of this lack of protection, I could be advertising our vulnerability.

Now, I am all for competition and the free market, and I want to meet my competitors in the marketplace, but not see my product stolen and then used to undersell me. We would bring many of our printed services online if we had protection. For it is crystal clear that faster and easier access to timely information would be useful for all farmers. Label changes in herbicides, for example, must be disseminated quickly for the safety of our farmers, their families and the consumer.

Today one third of the farm industry uses the Internet, and three years from now most will be online. We'd like to be online too, with all of our products but just as the internet promises farmers quicker access to be better information, in the absence of legal protection, it also allows quicker and cheaper pirating. The Internet's instant distribution of current information promises an important role for online databases in American farming. However, the very same ease of capturing and transmitting information also, paradoxically, gives the Internet an equally unprecedented ability to undermine the promise of better information for better farms and farmers, in the absence of legal protection, by making piracy quick, easy and cheap. I also want to note how the lack of protection for databases, especially on the Internet, can reduce a US firm's and American farmer's roles in markets. In today's global economy, we have real, possible markets beyond our national borders; markets which we are currently unable to develop because of the lack of protection. For example, a European grain buyer watching and planning his next move would benefit greatly from access to Doane's information services concerning American farm products. Although, today, we could expand our services via the Internet, we cannot realistically pursue this avenue until legislation is enacted to protect our databases; and if this is not done soon, these markets may be lost to us. Last year's European Union directive gave European database producers protection, leaving US businesses-in the absence of adequate protection here-out in the cold. Not only does this direct electronic pirates abroad to American databases, it also encourages European producers to pillage American databases, apparently all under the protection of European law. This is neither tolerable nor acceptable to me, nor to other American small businessmen. We need legislation which will help us protect and pursue new markets. People might not have immediately realized it, but this legislation will help create new markets for our farmers as well.

Doane adds considerable value to turning the seemingly endless columns of numbers and symbols and raw data from public sources into readily understandable, usable and useful information for American farmers. It is simply wrong that our work is not considered important enough to warrant protection in the aftermath of the Feist decision. Our company is hardly alone in providing such labor-intensive quality information to a waiting public. If I may, Mr. Chairman, I' like to submit for

the record a list of all 97 publications from the Agricultural Publishers Association, who I represent here today, as well as a letter from last year signed by all the major agricultural interest groups asking Congress to pass a bill to protect databases from piracy. It is our sincere desire that you do so quickly.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit these comments, and for your leadership in holding this hearing.

AGRICULTURE IS INFORMATION

We, the undersigned 97 agriculture magazines, newsletters, journals, and databases, are writing to you to request that you vote for the "Manager's Amendment" to HR 2281, the WIPO Treaty. The "Manager's Amendment" includes HR 2652, The Collections of Information Antipiracy Act. HR. 2652 already passed the House on a voice vote May 19th, but time for enactment is short. As part of the "Manager's Amendment," America's databases will have the best chance of securing the protection against the piracy that now threatens them. We need protection now.

As agriculture publishers, we play a central role in the lives of modern farmers. Our market reports, surveys, forecasts, buyers guides, and directories are consulted daily by those in the agriculture and livestock sectors. In addition, farmers turn to us for the most up to date information on fertilizer regulations, herbicide use, pesticide safety, etc. Databases help farmers make crucial decisions, especially when it comes to buying supplies and selling their goods on the market. We bring a world of accurate and organized information right into the homes of millions of farmers. If our databases are not protected from piracy, the farmers who depend on us for reliable, up to the minute information will suffer an immeasurable loss.

We cannot continue to update and maintain our databases if one is able to simply copy and resell them without penalty. Antipiracy legislation must be enacted by the 105th Congress. At the present time, the American information industry is in grave danger. In order to get HR 2652 passed in the House, database producers had to announce to the world that they have absolutely no protection. It was an invitation to pirate us. The Database Directive passed by the European Union further complicates the situation. Beginning this year, European databases are protected against piracy, while American databases are completely vulnerable. This situation cannot be ignored.

Please vote for the "Manager's Amendment" to WIPO so database protection can become law this year. The piracy that we have already experienced is just the beginning. If Congress fails to act in the last days of this session, we can expect piracy of a magnitude far greater than that which we have already suffered. Agriculture needs protection for its databases now.

Sincerely,