TEACH ACT-SIIA annoucement

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

SIIA ED-TECH ALERT
August 1, 2002

SIIA CONTACT:
Mark Schneiderman, Director, Education Policy
(202) 789-4444; marks@siia.net

Welcome to SIIA's Ed-Tech Alert.

ITEM 4: HOUSE COMMITTEE PAVES WAY FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
COPYRIGHT REFORM BILL

- Updates Distance Education Copyright Exemptions for Digital/Internet Age
- Reflects Concerns of SIIA Member Software and Information Companies
- Passage Into Law Will Enhance Distance Education Offerings

After a year delay resulting from unrelated Capitol Hill politicking, the
House Judiciary Committee last week approved the Senate-passed
"Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2001" (TEACH
Act).  The bill reforms distance education copyright law by broadening the
existing exemption to take into account the realities of the digital age.
Because the existing distance education copyright provisions were crafted
more than 20 years ago, the Copyright Act exemptions did not allow for
Internet-based and related digital distance education.  The amended bill
will now enable educators to incorporate copyright protected works into
their online instruction without seeking the permission of the owner,
including through elimination of the requirement of a physical classroom
and expansion of the categories of works covered.

As a result of efforts by SIIA and other advocates, the bill strikes a
proper balance between the need to protect publishers' intellectual
property and the goal of easing the ability of educators to deliver robust
online instruction.  As a core condition, the exception only applies to
mediated instructional activities, defined in the bill as those that use a
work as an integral part of the class experience and are "analogous to the
type of performance or display that would take place in a live classroom
setting." The amended bill now also contains a number of new safeguards
including: (1) excluding any work "produced or marketed primarily for
performance or display as part of mediated instructional activities
transmitted by digital networks"; (2) requiring that the performance or
display be made under the "actual supervision of an instructor" as an
"integral part" of a class session; and (3) requiring the transmitting
body or institution to apply technological measures to prevent
unauthorized access.

The TEACH Act is expected to be signed into law this year.  The Senate
Committee report, including a detailed explanation of the bill and its
implications and conditions, is available at
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/z?cp107:sr031.