From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu'" <it-fyi@lists.ou.edu>
Subject: it-fyi: Copyright Office Recommendations for On-Line Distance Edu
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 09:22:18 -0500
Wednesday, June 2, 1999
Copyright Office Releases Recommendations for On-Line Distance Education
By KELLY McCOLLUM
Distance-education experts think the Digital Millennium Copyright Act still
needs a little work, according to a report released last week by the United
States Copyright Office.
The report, which looks at how recent copyright reforms will affect
materials used in on-line distance education, makes several recommendations
concerning the new copyright act. The act was passed last October to bring
the United States into compliance with two international treaties that
guarantee copyright protection for information in electronic formats.
The law is intended to prevent piracy as more and more copyrighted materials
are put into digital format. But some scholars saw the changes it introduced
as threatening educators' ability to use copyrighted materials in on-line
classrooms under existing fair-use exemptions. Educators have traditionally
been protected by the exemptions, which have allowed teachers and professors
to use materials such as book excerpts, audio recordings, and motion
pictures in the classroom.
When the act was passed, legislators responded to the concerns by requiring
that the Copyright Office undertake a study to make sure the interests of
both educators and copyright holders were served.
Among the report's conclusions:
Lawmakers should clarify laws to minimize the distinction between
traditional and on-line classrooms. The report also said that any
legislation should make it clear that the doctrine of fair use applies to
on-line teaching.
Educators who want to use materials on line under the fair-use exemption
should try to prevent piracy. For example, professors could require students
to use a password to reach the materials, and could educate students about
copyright laws. The professors could also remove the materials from
computers and servers as soon as those materials are no longer needed for
teaching.
Classroom exemptions should continue to be extended only to non-profit
institutions, as they have been in the past. Some lawmakers had argued that
the restriction should be dropped, or further limited to accredited
institutions.
In compiling its report, the Copyright Office consulted distance educators,
librarians, and representatives of copyright holders in industries such as
publishing and motion pictures.
Background stories from The Chronicle:
Copyright Measures Advance in Congress (10/16/98)
Academic Groups Say Copyright Legislation in Congress Would Impede
Scholarship (5/29/98)
Copyright © 1999 by The Chronicle of Higher Education