By Doris Li, China IP
In a recent communication to the National Library of China (NLC), the American Chemical Society (ACS) notifying the temporary denial of access to certain IP addresses on the ACS database, due to the excessive volume of downloads.
The Internet’s vast wealth of information has become a haven for excessive or illegal downloading caused by “global sharing” and uniqueness. In developed countries, though technically difficult to control, it is not a serious problem as people generally respect intellectual property rights.
Mr. Glenn S. Ruskin, Director for the Office of Public Affairs at ACS said: “The Internet has greatly increased the ability to publish and access all manner of information and media. This increased accessibility has unfortunately also given rise to attempts to illegally take copyrighted materials from information providers, and this has become a worldwide problem.”
“This is the first time since the NLC began providing digital information to the public, that excessive downloading has caused public concern,” said an NLC official. “However, it is a common problem for libraries when providing materials to readers, especially for research libraries. The large volume of downloaded material is mostly academic, especially copyrighted content from professional academic organizations. Since information sources are limited, it is common that readers downloading simultaneously encounter such problems.”
Mr. John Sullivan, Chief Information Officer for ACS, said, “At ACS, we do have automated systems in place to track usage patterns and identify suspected inappropriate use of our copyrighted content. The criteria we use to evaluate instances of possible infringement are the same for all customers, regardless of their geographic location. In the event that our monitors are triggered, the customer’s access privileges for licensed ACS intellectual property are suspended. To secure our information, we must rely on more than our own monitoring systems. We expect and rely on our customers to configure and manage their systems and security according to best information technology available.”
The NLC spokesperson further stated that, “in the past, it has not been a common problem for the NLC to monitor large volume downloads, so the NLC has not installed a tracking system to monitor the usage by subscribers, but the NLC would strengthen its monitoring of usage by readers. Furthermore, large volume downloads by some readers have resulted in others not being able to download materials as usual.” Recently, the NLC established a warning system, and made adjustments in other areas.
“We feel that this ACS problem is controlled to some extent by improving the management of our services, but increased awareness by our subscribers and the public in general of IPR is the key to such problems,” said the official. China IP
(Translated by Li Wei)
