TEACH, the DMCA and Distance Education

When the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty of 1996 was finally ratified by the United States, our version became known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The extension of traditional copyright laws in broad and unusual ways, that is the DMCA, was maligned in both the legal and Internet communities. With a total of five sections, or titles, the DMCA covers a broad range of copyright rules and regulations relating to almost every conceivable incarnation of literary and artistic works which come in contact with the digital medium. However, one topic legislators were interested in amending after the inception of the DMCA was that of distance education. Law makers, here in the United States, have attempted to address this topic as it relates to our copyright law with the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH). TEACH, specific to the United States, is not an internationally accepted amendment to the WIPO Copyright Treaty. By reviewing the technological requirements of TEACH, the titles of the DMCA and the history of both acts this paper will show that while TEACH, to date, has not been publicly recognized as an amendment to the DMCA it can truly be viewed as such in the United States with regards to the issue of distance education.