Wednesday, November 14, 2001

Backers of Distance Education Worry That a Copyright Bill May Die in the House By DAN CARNEVALE Washington College administrators are worrying that Congress, preoccupied by terrorism and the economy, won't get around to completing legislation that would give online education some of the same copyright exemptions that traditional courses have. Although the bill moved quickly through the Senate this summer, it has since been stalled in a House of Representatives committee. The bill, S. 487, would allow faculty members in distance courses at nonprofit colleges and universities to use "dramatic literary works," such as clips from movies and songs, in online instruction. Currently, courses offered over the Internet are not allowed to use such copyrighted works without the copyright holder's permission, even though similar works can be used in traditional courses under the fair-use exemption to copyright law. The Senate passed the bill in June and a House subcommittee approved it in July. But the legislation has stalled in the House Judiciary Committee ever since. "It's still being reviewed at this point," said Jeff E. Lungren, a spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee. "No action is planned." With Congress aiming to adjourn in early December and members focusing primarily on spending bills and anti-terrorism legislation, Mr. Lungren said there's no telling if the House will be able to get to the bill in time. "It's all up in the air," Mr. Lungren said. "We're just now getting back to our pre-September 11 agenda." The bill was the product of negotiations between higher-education administrators and media-company officials, who accepted a limited expansion of fair use for online education. The initial push for the legislation came in 1999 when the U.S. Copyright Office issued a report recommending that the law allow copyrighted works to be displayed on the Internet for educational purposes. Kim Kelley, the associate provost for information and library services at University of Maryland University College, said that the chances of the legislation's being passed this session are getting slimmer by the day, and that higher-education institutions need to take action to push the bill through. "I haven't completely written it off," she said. "But there's going to have to be some lobbying." Ms. Kelley said she understands that Congress has its hands full with other matters, but she said colleges and universities have to make an effort to keep their issues on the table. "If higher education doesn't take an aggressive stand, too many other issues are going to push it to the side," she said. Fritz Dolak, copyright and electronic-resources librarian at Ball State University, said he is skeptical that the bill will pass this session. Although he would like to see more exemptions granted to online education than the proposed bill provides, he said he still hopes this bill passes. "Any movement forward is progress," he said. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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