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UCLA Does the Right Thing by Fair Use

UCLA, which in January yanked down videos being streamed for classroom use as a result of bullying by a trade association has rediscovered that educators have fair use rights. Now, UCLA professors can post videos again within their passworded class sites online. In a UCLA press release, Christine Borgman, chair of the Information Technology Planning Board and UCLA Presidential Professor of Information Studies, said, "The UCLA faculty and administration quickly reached consensus on both the need to restore these essential instructional services and to assert our rights to use intellectual property within the bounds of existing copyright laws." While UCLA pointed to special educational exemptions, it rested its argument on fair use. The press release also noted that UCLA plays a leadership role in the educational community, which is true. Folks in smaller colleges across the country got in touch with us after UCLA's unfortunate earlier decision to cave; we referred them to a definitive brief from the Library Copyright Alliance on why they would be able to serve their students and faculty this way, within the law. I guess UCLA read the same document…finally.