1 Information Infrastructure Task Force, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action (Sept. 1993).

2 Information Infrastructure Task Force, Global Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Cooperation (Feb. 1995).

3 See Exec. Order No. 12,864, 3 C.F.R. 634 (1993).

4 In the course of its work, the Working Group identified issues in other areas of jurisprudence, such as defamation and obscenity, which will be considered separately by the Information Policy Committee.

5 The "National Information Infrastructure," as it is discussed in this Report, encompasses digital, interactive services now available, such as the Internet, as well as those contemplated for the future. To make the analyses more concrete, however, the Working Group has, in many instances, evaluated the intellectual property implications of activity on the Internet, the superstructure whose protocols and rules effectively create (or permit the creation of) a "network of networks." This reflects neither an endorsement of the Internet nor a derogation of any other existing or proposed network or service that may be available via the NII, but, rather, an acknowledgment that a currently functioning structure lends itself more readily to legal analysis than a hypothetical construct based on future developments.

6 Because of the legal nature of the subject, this Report uses certain words and phrases that may be unfamiliar to some readers or that do not have their ordinary meaning when used in the context of intellectual property law. The Working Group has attempted to identify these terms of art and provide their legal definitions. Further, every attempt has been made to present trademarks that appear in the Report with initial capital letters. However, not all terms appearing with initial capital letters in the Report are trademarks. Where a question may exist regarding whether a term may be or is a trademark, the use of such term in the Report does not constitute any position regarding the trademark status of the term.

7 See list of Working Group participants infra Appendix 3.

8 See Request for Comments on Intellectual Property Issues Involved in the National Information Infrastructure Initiative, 58 Fed. Reg. 53,917 (Oct. 19, 1993).

9 See id.

10 See Information Infrastructure Task Force, Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure: A Preliminary Draft of the Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights (July 1994).

11 The IITF Bulletin Board can be accessed through the Internet by pointing the Gopher Client to iitf.doc.gov or by telnet to iitf.doc.gov (log in as gopher). The Bulletin Board is also accessible at 202-501-1920 using a personal computer and a telephone modem.

12 The public hearing in Chicago was held on September 14, 1994, at the University of Chicago. The hearing in Los Angeles was held on September 16, 1994, at the University of California at Los Angeles. The hearings in Washington, D.C., were held on September 22 and 23, 1994, in the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. See Notice of Hearings and Request for Comments on Preliminary Draft of the Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, 59 Fed. Reg. 42,819 (Aug. 19, 1994). Transcripts of the public hearings may be obtained by writing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Office of Legislative and International Affairs, Box 4, Washington, D.C., 20231. The transcripts are also available on the IITF Bulletin Board. See supra note 11.

13 See Notice of Hearings and Request for Comments on Preliminary Draft of the Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, 59 Fed. Reg. 42,819 (Aug. 19, 1994); Extension of Deadline for Comments on Preliminary Draft of the Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, 59 Fed. Reg. 50,222 (Oct. 3, 1994). Comments received are available for public inspection at the Scientific and Technical Information Center of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Room 2CO1, Crystal Plaza 34, 2021 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

14 This Report does not attempt to address all existing intellectual property issues. For instance, current debates over protection of the design of useful articles and whether or to what extent certain aspects of computer programs are or should be protected under copyright law are not covered by this Report. Likewise, certain patent issues, such as pre-grant publication and reexamination, are not addressed.

15 In the process of preparing this Report, the Working Group constantly received and evaluated information concerning a large variety of technological and other developments that bear on the NII and intellectual property rights in works distributed thereon. In April 1995, the Working Group was compelled to place the Report in concrete form, and, thus, to stop adjusting the text with respect to just-received news. As a result, the Working Group has elected to: (a) pose in some detail -- but not try to definitively answer -- certain questions, and (b) not discuss every possible technological development of which it recently became aware. We are confident that the legislative and political processes will offer the opportunity for additional comments from both the U.S. Government and interested parties.

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