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NEWS ARCHIVE: FEBRUARY 2002
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Supreme Court: Pupils may grade each other| WASHINGTON, February 19, 2002 -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that teachers who have pupils grade each other's work are not violating privacy protections under federal law. Paper-swapping, a common classroom practice, is "a way to teach material again in a new context," the Court said. A parent had claimed that paper-swapping embarrassed her son and violated a federal law that prohibits schools from divulging educational records. The Court declined to accept the assertion that tests and other class work are educational records under the law. |
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| What this mean for authors: Instructor manuals can continue to suggest that pupils grade each other's work as pedagogically sound and efficient. A manual note about this case, Owasso Schools v. Falvo, might allay instructor confusion on the issue. |
Supreme Court to ponder copyright duration| WASHINGTON, February 19, 2002 -- The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to considered the so-called Sonny Bono Amendment of 1998, which extended copyright protection to 70 years for the heirs of an author. The case has worked its way through lower courts as Eldred v. Ashcroft. Eric Eldred, who publishes a web archive of classical literature, claims that Congress unduly stunted the advancement of science and knowledge by extending the authors' monopoly rights to their works for their lifetime plus 70 years. At the urging of media companies that hold most copyrights, led by Disney, the protection has been extended several times in recent years. The core issue: How is the advancement of knowledge better served -- by increasing the financial incentive for authors to create with a longer monopoly period? Or by moving their works into the public domain sooner? Legal observers say the Supreme Court seems mostly interested in whether Congress has exceeded its authority in extending the duration of copyright time and again through U.S. history. |
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| What this mean for authors: The anticipated and unanticipated consequences of changes in copyright law affect all authors and creators of intellectual property, but it is primarily the owners of the copyrights that have the most at stake here. In academic publishing, copyrights generally are held by publishing houses and learned societies. |
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