Several copyright exemptions relevant to educational fair use and online learning are up for comment at the US Copyright Office. See below to read the exemptions and comment.
The United States Copyright Office is conducting the sixth triennial rulemaking proceeding under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 1201, which provides that the Librarian of Congress, upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, may exempt certain classes of works from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. The ultimate goal of the proceeding is to determine whether there are particular classes of works as to which users are, or are likely to be, adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses due to the prohibition on circumvention of access controls. When such classes are identified, the Librarian publishes a rule exempting the classes from the prohibition against circumvention for the succeeding three-year period.
On September 17, 2014, the Office published a Notice of Inquiry requesting petitions for proposed exemptions and received forty-four petitions in response. The Office received the proposals and created twenty-seven proposed classes of exemptions for further consideration.
On December 12, 2014, the Office issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) initiating three rounds of public comment on the proposed classes including submission of documentary and multimedia evidence. Persons wishing to address proposed exemptions should carefully review the Notice of Inquiry to familiarize themselves with the substantive legal and evidentiary standards for the granting of an exemption under section 1201(a)(1).
Read and Comment: US Copyright Office