Digital Copyright Law On Hold

Those awaiting passage of the TEACH Act will have to hold their breaths a little longer. The bill, intended to introduce copyright law, including fair-use provisions, to the Digital Age, was on its way to getting approval by Congress when it was sideswiped by the September 11 terrorist attacks.

That doesn't mean the legislation—known as Senate bill S. 487 or the Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization Act—won't get passed. It's just a matter of when. The Senate unanimously passed the bill in June, and at this stage, it won't reach the House floor until late January, at the earliest.

The TEACH Act was hammered out following months of careful negotiations in 2001 between educators concerned with restrictions on electronic copyrighted materials and a coalition of publishers and representatives of the motion picture industry. "There's no real opposition to it," says Miriam Nisbet, legislative counsel for the American Library Association. "Everybody thinks it's good for education."

The Congressional delay amounts to nothing more than frustration on the part of educators, particularly those involved with distance education, because copyright laws don't govern the Internet, satellite broadcasts, and videoconferencing. As a guideline, educators have been relying on the Copyright Act of 1976, which permits fair use of copyrighted materials in classrooms, including the televised transmission of materials to a remote location. "If and when this gets passed, it will significantly improve the ability of educational institutions to move forward," Nisbet says.