AALL's Interest in the Owners' Rights Initiative and Today's SCOTUS Oral Arguments in Kirtsaeng

It took about an hour for AALL to respond to an Oct. 25th walled garden Members Open Forum message time-stamped October 25, 2012 11:41 AM not submitted by me but calling attention to an LLB post:

Please take time to read  the post on the Law Librarian Blog today, "You bought it, you own it..." by Joe Hodnicki. http://tinyurl.com/9oad2cf

Joe discusses the new coalition Owner's Rights Initiative and the case of Kirtsaeng vs. Wiley & Sons, Inc. to be heard by the Supreme Court on October 29, 2012.

Both the American Library Association and the Association of Research Libraries have joined this initiative. See ORI web site:http://tinyurl.com/bm3oky4 for a more complete explanation.

As librarians we are all potentially affected by the first sale doctrine. This could have enormous impact on libraries. I would like to see AALL make a statement on this topic.

The response on this matter in AALL's closed garden of web communitues was time-stamped October 25, 2012 12:50 PM and read:

The Copyright Committee was in the midst of our monthly meeting. Emily Feltren and Elizabeth Holland of the Government Relations Office, and Lucy Curci-Gonzalez (our Board Liaison) joined us for the call. As it happens, George Pike (former Copyright Committee Chair) and Amy Ash (current Committee member) co-authored an Issue Brief on Kirtsaeng, which will be posted very shortly. We were also discussing the Owners' Rights Initiative (ORI) and whether there is a role for AALL. We have submitted an inquiry with ORI Executive Director Andrew Shore to learn more about the new initiative and what options are available for participation, membership, etc. We hope to know more soon and will keep the communication flowing on this issue, including any Copyright Committee recommendations, through Lucy to the Executive Board.

(Emphasis added.)

Ah OK. An Issue Brief date-stamped Oct. [ ?] 2012, has been posted. See also the Amici Curiae Brief. As of yesterday morning, no additional AALL-sourced information for the membership had been posted that I spotted.

Remember oral arguments in Kirtsaeng will be presented today. Watch Kirtsaeng vs. Wiley & Sons, Inc (SCOTUSblog) for details because SCOTUSblog pays attention to what the hell is happening and provides documentation, commentary and analysis in near-real time. For starters, see Ronald Mann's Argument preview: Court tries again on copyright importation problem (SCOTUSblog, Oct. 18, 2012).

On LLB, see Mark Giangrande's Supreme Court To Hear Case On Applying The First Sale Doctrine To Foreign Goods, (Oct. 15, 2012) and The Deeper Implications Of The Pending Kirtsaeng Case (Oct. 24, 2012) which reported on a Oct. 23, 2012 ORI conference call. So there is plenty of information available to read "more about it."

Is there a role for AALL in ORI? More important is the web community statement that AALL wants to learn more about the Owners' Rights Initiative (ORI) and "whether there is a role for AALL." The first order of business is money. If AALL wants to join ORI like ALA and ARL already have as founding members, note well that members are providing the funding for ORI. How much? Don't know but where might the AALL cash come from if our professional organization wants to join ORI?

1. Using AALL President's budgeted discretionary allowance and/or;
2. Killing print versions of LLJ and Spectrum to save money and join 21st century publishing; and/or
3. Stop paying employed law librarians like the Vendor Liaison position and AALL LLJ  and Spectrum editors to perform work that should be uncompensated contributions for the good of the profession. If no one is willing to take on these good-for-the-profession tasks without becoming AALL hired help, then the tasks should cease.

Update on AALL. See LLB's October 31, 2012 post, Almost a Founding Member? But What the Heck, AALL Has Joined the Owners' Rights Initiative. [JH]