TEACH Act passed

Bergman, Barbara J. (barbara.bergman@mnsu.edu)
Mon, 7 Oct 2002 07:30:57 -0700 (PDT)

Oct. 4. http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon/
Critical distance education legislation, the TEACH Act, has now passed
both houses of Congress as an amendment to the
Justice Department reauthorization bill (H.R. 5512). According to
Senator Leahy the language of this legislation is identical to
that of the Hatch-Leahy TEACH Act that the Senate passed in June 2001
(CR S9889). ALA has long supported this version.
The President is expected to sign H.R. 5512 soon and the TEACH Act will
go into effect immediately.

The TEACH Act expands face-to-face teaching exemptions in the copyright
law, allowing teachers and faculty to use
copyrighted works in the "digital classroom" without prior permission
from the copyright holder. The law is complex and details
numerous responsibilities that must be met before educational
institutions (including their libraries) can benefit from the
exemptions.

The ALA Washington Office has created a TEACH Web site to help members
understand the complexities of TEACH
(www.ala.org/washoff/teach.html). In addition, the Office for
Information Technology Policy will offer an e-mail tutorial on
distance education and copyright in the near future.

Watch the Washington Office Web site and ALAWON for more information.

Reminder: Please ask Congressional representatives to co-sponsor fair
use legislation H.R. 5544

Ask your Congressional representatives to co-sponsor the "Digital Media
Consumers' Rights Act" (DMCRA) introduced by
Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va) and John Doolittle (R-Ca) on October 3rd. The
bill number, which was not published until late
yesterday, is H.R. 5544.

See yesterday's ALAWON for more information about this groundbreaking
legislation that will restore fair use. DMCRA is the
first legislation since 1998 to address the rights and needs of library
users, researchers, and consumers who wish to use digital
works or study digital technologies.