The Senate can and does indeed introduce new IP bills. I'm not sure why it is
that they so rarely take the lead. However, recently the Senate Judiciary
Committee (the committee in the Senate that works with IP issues) took up the
issue of the Educational Exemption for performance under section 110(2) of the
Copyright Act.
The bill (s. 487) was jointly sponsored by Senators Hatch and Leahy, and is
called the "TECHNOLOGY, EDUCATION AND COPYRIGHT HARMONIZATION ACT OF 2001."
It is generally referred to as the "TEACH Act." It was passed in the Senate,
as amended, on June 7, and introduced in the House, where it was referred to
the Judiciary Committee.
I attended the conference "Intellectual Property in the Digital Age" in May.
Two days before the conference began, representatives from publishing,
education, and libraries came to a joint agreement on what the provisions of
this bill should be. The "summit" was convened by the Copyright Office, with
cooperation by Sens. Hatch and Leahy and their staffs. I was very lucky to
attend that conference, because most of the people negotiating at the summit
were speakers at the conference.
The main thing that the TEACH Act does is to amend Section 110(2) to eliminate
the "Face-to-face" requirement of the educational performance excemption.
This would be for accredited non-profit educational institutions only, and
only for their enrolled students. The House version also includes non-profit
libraries, but the version passed by the Senate does not. For-profit
institutions, even if accredited, must pay royalties for a license.
I hope that this helps.
--Bryan M. Carson
> "Jose F. Diaz" wrote:
>
> Dear Law-Libbers:
>
> Each day I check http://thomas.loc.gov/ to see if any bills have been
> introduced in Congress relating to IP matters. I see mainly House bills,
> but hardly ever see Senate bills. Why is this so?
>
> Does the Senate have any say on new IP legislation, or is it just the
> House? I'm aware that when an IP bill is introduced in the House, it
> is referred to the House Judiciary Committee; and then to the House
> Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property for
> revision/votes/approval, and so on. Is there such a subcommittee in the
> Senate that performs similar tasks?
>
> Thank you in advance.
>
> José Diaz
> Reference Law Librarian
> Scully, Scott, Murphy & Presser
> 400 Garden City Plaza, Suite 300
> Garden City, NY 11530
> Tel. No. (516) 742-4343
>
> "Any opinions stated are those of the author and are not the official
> opinion of Scully, Scott, Murphy & Presser."
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