How Often is the Standard of Perfection Revised?

[3KillerBs]

I've access to a couple older versions of the Standard of Perfection, the newer from 1966, and I was curious if it was carved in stone generations ago or if its subject to regular revision and updating.

If it goes by breed, I'm most interested in Australorps and Delawares.

 

[Pathfinders]

There are actually two Standards, one for the APA (American Poultry Association), and one for the ABA (American Bantam Association.)

The ABA Standard was updated sometime recently, maybe two years ago? The APA one is well overdue, last one was 2001. The hardest part is getting the paintings painted I think...

But yes, any changes that have happened to various breed descriptions do get put into the new Standards, and those changes are usually dealt with at the annual and semi-annual meetings each year.

Be aware that the text and images in the Standards are subject to copyright (I just had a long email exchange with the VP of the APA on this over the weekend.) You cannot take whole chunks out of the Standard and post them anywhere. Here's exactly what Sam said in his email:

To start off, the primary statement is always that the American Standard of Perfection, represented by numerous revised editions over time, is copyrighted material, and as such it is afforded all the usual protections under Title 17 of the U.S. Code. As the copyright owner, the American Poultry Association has, and seeks to maintain the right to reproduce or authorize others to reproduce the work in copies or other media.
That being said, the use of Standard materials by others is covered for selected situations by the Fair Use Doctrine, and section 107 of Title 17 outlines details of eligible “fair use” approaches available. . Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
Factor #3 is the one most relevant for Standard use. Essentially, the interpretation from our publishing advisors is that others may use limited text excerpts, such as a breed or variety standard description, as long as it is of that limited nature and properly cited as coming from the APA’s American Standard of Perfection, a copyrighted work. So a breed club or other group could post the Standard breed description among the files on a website, but there needs to be the proper citation and copyright annotation with it. This fits well with the statement on the title page of the ASOP where it indicates “Permission to make quotations from the text of this book is granted solely for the purpose of dissemination of knowledge, provided proper credit is cited.” Moving to an expanded use example, the APA would not consider printing or webposting of descriptions for an entire class of poultry as being covered under the Fair Use Doctrine because it is too substantial an “excerpt” of the overall work, and not sufficiently limited in scope.

Regarding the illustrations, the counsel we have received from our publishing source is that the APA would be best served by NOT allowing too broad a use of the copyrighted illustrations, as in the case of a breed club posting them on the website. While the standard text descriptions are important in terms of the overall utility and marketability of the American Standard of Perfection, it is the standard illustrations that are a key element for which most people purchase a Standard. The view is that allowing too free a use of illustrations on the web would have a significant negative effect on the potential mark for the American Standard of Perfection, so that would not meet the guidelines for Factor #4 above. The APA has on a few limited occasions granted the use of Standard illustrations for specific, one-time situations, usually where the presentation of the pictures was significantly different (e.g. much reduced size) than the ASOP. We also required prominent statements that those were being used with specific permission from the APA to use copyrighted illustrations. That is different from someone posting a high resolution scanned copy of a Standard illustration on a website. Therefore, the illustrations are off limits as far as Fair Use guidelines apply to the American Standard of Perfection. I would note that this copyright protection of Standard illustrations covers both the newer color illustrations as well as most of the black and white Schilling portraits.

In summary, there are guidelines through the Fair Use Doctrine that provide for use of limited text excerpts, which can be individual breed or variety descriptions. The APA would appreciate users requesting our endorsement of such use, with the expectation that users will address the proper citation/copyright denotation as part of that use. Because of the ongoing nature of website availability and the potential impact on marketing of the American Standard of Perfection, the use of illustrations is not considered an eligible fair use, and the APA policy is to not allow their use as website materials. Folks will just have to buy the book

So, all that being said, if someone were to publish the text descriptions here, they would have to fall under limited text excerpts, which can be individual breed or variety descriptions. The APA would appreciate users requesting our endorsement of such use, with the expectation that users will address the proper citation/copyright denotation as part of that use. You can make such requests to Sam via slbrush AT verizon DOT net

Probably ten times more than you wanted to know, but you asked...

 

[Mahonri]

VERY good, informative answer.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

One additional point is that while the printed version is contains the latest consolidated information, both the ABA & APA have regular meetings, at which time changes to the standard can and routinely are made. These changes are published in quarterly newsletters as well as annual yearbooks. None are spur of the moment changes, but are usually something that has been in the works for awhile.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks.

I'm not wanting to post anything. I just wanted to know for my own continuing education.

Does the Standard often change dramatically? Or would the changes since 1966 be subtleties only noticeable to hard-core breeders/showers?

 

[blackred]

The APA and ABA standards are rarely changed except to add new breeds or varieties. There are times when slight variations are adapted to make the 2 standards more alike, but other than that they are pretty constant.

I compared the 1966 to the current SOP in Australorps and Delawares and they are the same.

Bob

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

From my understanding, the standards for silkies, at least as far as comb goes, have chnaged. The standard has read the same way since I've had my birds, but from breedes who have been showing for many years this is what I have been told.