UCITA: Implications for Libraries
ßConcerns that UCITA will replace the public law of copyright with the private law of contracts. ßConcerns that UCITA will undercut traditional fair use of products. ßConcerns that UCITA will undermine libraries in the preservation and lending of information products.
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In general, UCITA was developed to regulate business-to-business transactions in tangible goods.  However, contract law increasingly impacts the everyday consumer as well as the business and library user.
Concerns for copyright versus contract law include such things as a small business owner, a librarian, and a consumer using the same software may be subject to the same license restrictions, even though the ways they are using the software may be very different.
Copyright law has always made fair use exceptions for educational use, research use, and criticism to name such a few exceptional areas.  Opponents of UCITA fear the extinction of such fair use rights under UCITA.
Librarians also fear clauses in contracts that prohibit lending materials or that prohibit activities or uses that librarians may make in preservation efforts.  Can you store digital files locally or make paper copies for preservation purposes?