fair use in higher education

This morning, I'm attending a conference call on fair use in higher ed led by Lolly Gasaway of UNC. She began the session by citing the constitutional foundation of copyright (Article I, section 8, clause 8), largely forgotten in the era following CTEA's enactment. She described the terms of protection, and the 1976 and 1998 extensions, plus the fact that the 1998 extension was retroactive. In defining public domain works, Lolly listed materials produced by the federal government...this is a very dicey area, particularly if you extend this to research info supported by the federal government . In discussing infringement later, she noted that copies in RAM are copies that count. A very relevant topic....