TEACH Act Interpretation

["Olga Francois" <ofrancois@xxxxxxxx>]

John, you pose a good question. I hope responses are sent to the list,
if not could you please give us a recap of the responses you receive?
Thanks! -Olga

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 14:14:50 -0800
> To: <digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> From: "John Farquhar" <John.Farquhar@xxxxxxx>
> Subject: TEACH Act Interpretation
> Message-ID: <395749A1C093EC47B8ADF2C8F7360E79013BA768@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Could I receive some insight from this list concerning a particular
> interpretation of the TEACH Act?
> 
> My institution has decided not to rely on the exemptions provided by the
> TEACH Act because we believe that doing so substantially increases
> institutional liability for actions performed by our faculty. Our
> understanding has been that should we "open the door" to such use, we
> would have to implement procedure to police and control all materials
> posted by faculty to Blackboard and other central servers. With an
> obvious unwillingness to perform such policing, we have decided not
> adopt TEACH Act policy and instead tell faculty that their only options
> are to get permission or abide by Fair Use.
> 
> It appears to me that many universities ARE implementing TEACH Act
> policy. Are we being overly cautious, or are there schools that share a
> similar concern?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> jf
> 
> ________________________________
> John D. Farquhar, Ph.D.
> Manager, Instructional Development
> Academic Technology & User Services
> Western Washington University
> Bellingham, WA 98225
> 
> (O) 360.650.6538
> (F) 360.650.2816
> _______________________________