ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 11, Number 83 October 10, 2002 In This Issue: The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in the copyright term extension case (1) Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Eldred v. Ashcroft. Lawrence Lessig, on behalf of Eric Eldred, urged the Court to overturn a decision by the federal appeals court for the D. C. Circuit, which in February 2001 rejected the argument that the Copyright Term Extension Act is unconstitutional. The Act, passed by Congress in 1998, extends the copyright term for an additional 20 years, so that a commercially-produced work is now governed by the provisions of copyright law for 95 years; for an individual's work the term is "life of the author" plus 70 years. In support of the challengers' case, the five major national library associations and ten other groups submitted an amici curiae (friend of the court) brief asking the Supreme Court to rule that the extended term of protection for copyrighted works is unconstitutional. * The brief explained that the new lengthier copyright terms exceed the "limited times" of protection authorized by the Constitution's Copyright Clause to "promote the progress" of science and the useful arts. In addition, the grant of extended terms for works already in existence when the law was passed - retrospective protection - does not meet the constitutional requirement of innovation in order for a work to be copyrighted. * The brief also argued that Congress did not adequately consider the substantial harms that flow from keeping works under copyright protection almost perpetually, thereby stifling the public domain. A copy of the brief and more about the case can be found at http://www.ala.org/washoff/eldred.html. The Supreme Court is not expected to issue a decision in the case until Spring 2003. (2) The ALAWON of October 4, 2002, gave an incorrect bill number for the Department of Justice reauthorization bill to which the TEACH Act - the Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization Act - was attached and passed last week. The correct number for the DOJ bill is H.R. 2215. If you want to check out the text of the TEACH Act, you will not find it in the text of that bill. Instead, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c107:4:./temp/~c107IYs4A5:: Other information about the TEACH Act, including a summary of the legislation and background, can be found at http://www.ala.org/washoff/disted.html. 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. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman, Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell, Claudette Tennant. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.