Distance Education, Intellectual Property, and The TEACH Act

Hi,

My name is Katherine L. McDaniel. I am a research fellow with the Information Society Project at the Yale Law School (http:// research.yale.edu/isp/). I'm currently writing a paper that compares and critiques various national exceptions to and limitations on copyright aimed at promoting distance education. The relevant legislation in the United States is the "Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2002" ("The TEACH Act"). There are a lot of law review articles that discuss the text of the law , but not so many that explore how the law is actually used by distance educators. Because the goal of this paper is to develop model laws that other in countries could implement, it is really important to me that I understand how this particular law works in practice. Thus I am appealing to this list serve in the hopes that distance educators or administrators in higher education copyright compliance offices might have time to speak with me, on or off the the record, about the TEACH Act.

Specifically, I am interested in learning whether:

1. The TEACH Act has made distance education easier, harder, or has had no effect.
2. The TEACH Act creates adequate exceptions to copyright, or if further exceptions/limitations on copyright are needed to meet distance educators' needs.
3. Whether or not distance educators are aware of/understand copyright laws and the TEACH Act's provisions and, if so, whether they seek to comply with CR laws and the TEACH Act exceptions them or whether the copyright laws are ignored.
4. Any other considerations re: the TEACH Act, copyright, and distance education that Congress should address.

My hypothesis is that the TEACH Act did not create adequate exceptions to copyright, but this belief comes only from having read the text of the law and the thoughts of distance educators are far more relevant, thus I am hoping that a few people would have the time to discuss copyright issues in the context of distance education.

Please feel free to respond to this list serve or to contact me directly at katherine.mcdaniel[_at_]yale.edu.

Thanks,

Katherine L. McDaniel