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HEADLINE: What Happens Next?

After the Conference on Fair Use meets May 19, 1997 to consider the endorsements or rejections of the three sets of proposed guidelines, the community will have in its possession a body of material representing a measure of agreement and disagreement about the practice of the educational fair use of digital materials. Court cases and the passage of time with new technical and social developments will add to the understanding that practitioners will have as to what does and does not constitute fair use when applied to digital materials.

Included in the "Interim Report" was a recommendation that "the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights of the Information Infrastructure Task Force, or another appropriate federal government body, should consider convening another conference on fair use within five years to address both those areas of concern where participants did not, or were unable to, reach agreement on fair use guidelines and any other concerns regarding fair use at that time."

Many, however, feel that should another body be convened it should have the weight of Congressional authority.