ABSTRACT
By 1990, the Copyright Act of 1976 was showing its age. In a number of critical respects, the statute had fallen behind developments, but nowhere more clearly than in the case of distant education at the undergraduate and graduate level. Although the Internet had not reached the masses, it was a medium commonly used by higher education. Electronic courses were being offered by many institutions to link faculty and students in the United States and overseas. However, to the extent that course content and electronic transmissions incorporated third-party copyrighted works, Section 110(2) of the Copyright Act, the existing statutory exemption permitting transmission of public performances or displays of certain works to remote locations in connection with instruction, was inapplicable.
