The U.S. Copyright Office announced on Tuesday that President Bush on Saturday signed into law the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act (H.R. 2215), which includes the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act.

Of importance is the new law's amendment to the Copyright Act, which provides increased flexibility for accredited, nonprofit educational institutions to use the Internet to provide copyrighted materials to students enrolled in distance education programs. The amendment allows professors to use online music, movies and other copyrighted materials for "mediated instructional activities," without permission from or payment to copyright holders. It also re-establishes this particular "fair use" of a copyrighted work -- still preserved for non-digital copyrights -- that was made illegal under 1998's Digital Millennium Copyright Act.