How can we record copyrighted materials?

Learning Ally, formerly Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), is the nation’s premier educational library for individuals who cannot use standard print due to visual impairments, blindness, reading or perceptual disabilities, or other physical disabilities. We record textbooks, educational material, and literature for use in the classroom in digital format creating accessible books. Our accessible, human-read books are distributed solely to our membership population of Eligible Persons.

Our digital audiobooks are protected from further distribution by a “lock and key” system that enables only registered Learning Ally members access. Learning Ally has worked with the American Association of Publishers to formulate a proactive Intellectual Property Protection plan designed to protect the valuable intellectual content of both authors and publishers.

In September 1996, Congress amended the U.S. Copyright Law, declaring that the reproduction and distribution of accessible versions of previously Copyrighted works to blind and other disabled individuals by nonprofit Authorized Entities is “not an infringement of Copyright”. This was amended in October 2018 with the enactment of the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act, 17 USC 121, et seq. and Learning Ally is an Authorized Entity under the Act.