So today we're going to talk about the copyright issues when you show film as part of a class, either a face-to-face class or an online class. >> Mm-hm. >> And it's important to start by remembering that showing a film indicates the rights holder's exclusive right of public performance. So does that mean that a teacher always needs to get a license to show a movie in class? >> I hope not. >> Oh no, no, no. Because [LAUGH] no, there are several copyright exceptions that might apply. We'll talk about two, the face-to-face teaching exception and the TEACH Act exception for distance learning. So there is an exception for public performance and display of a copyrighted work in face-to-face teaching with the following parameters. The performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils must be in a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction. Unless given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title. In other words, if you've got an illegal copy, you can't take advantage of the face-to-face teaching exception. >> And you also can't take advantage of it if you're at the University of Phoenix. If you're in a commercial institution or for-profit institution, yeah. But this is only true, the part about the lawfully made, is only true if the person responsible for the performance knows or had reason to know. >> Okay. >> So, if you didn't know that the copy was illegal, you are not liable. >> Mm-hm. >> If you could follow those negatives. So the iconic example that we all know from elementary school is showing a movie in class. And although most teachers don't think of that as being something where they're using a copyright exception, indeed they are. But of course there are times when you can't do that. And one that happened to me that I thought was interesting was that I had an instructor who wanted to show a clip from the TV show ER. And he happened to mention as he was talking about this, that he was pretty sure that it was a pirated clip. And he said, but I don't think there will be a problem, because I didn't pirate it. >> I just found it on the web site and copied it. And I said no, no, no, we had reason to know that it was illegal. >> Yeah. >> That it wasn't me who did the pirating in this case is not enough of a reason. >> Not good enough if you know it was pirated. >> Yeah, and another point of conflict between rights holders and people using this exception is often, what is a classroom or similar place of instruction. >> Right. >> Does a similar place of instruction include a room in the AV center where you show movies to classes? Yeah, probably [LAUGH]. >> But does it show- >> For example. >> Does it cover a meeting room in a hotel at a conference? >> Exactly. >> That's a much more difficult question. >> Yes, yes and other, other venues are often not as clear cut. >> Right, right, so when we look at the exception for online instruction, and we've done this several times, and people can go back and review the discussions, especially in the images module, for a lot more detail. But when we look at that, we need to remember again that this was intended to mirror the face-to-face teaching exception in a digital environment. But it's actually more difficult to use, it has a lot of different requirements. The main thing we want to focus on here is the limitations on the amount that are allowed for films. And also the limitations on the type. There are a couple of things that we have to remember when we're talking about transmitting a film on an online network to students who are dispersed. The main thing we need to remember when we're talking about transmitting film is that we can use only reasonable and limited portions. That's the language that the TEACH Act gives us. Now, we actually think, based on some of the legislative history, that a reasonable portion might sometimes, in very rare instances, include the whole film. But most of the time it's not going to include the whole film. We have to only transmit portions that are appropriate to whatever the teaching purpose is. We always need to say that, appropriate to whatever the purpose is. It's very important in fair use, it's important here in implying the TEACH Act as well. The other requirement is that there must be no digital version of the work already available. That if we're going to digitize from a DVD, for example, make a stream, there can't already be a digital work available. Or the digital work that's available must be protected by technological protection measures that make it unusable. In those cases, for a clip, a reasonable or limited portion, we can rip the DVD and transmit that portion. >> And as with face-to-face teaching, when we're employing the teaching exception for distance learning, the work that we are using must be lawfully made and acquired. And if it was not lawfully made an acquired and the institution knew, or had reason to know that it wasn't, then the work cannot be performed or displayed. >> Mm-hm. >> Again, no DVDs that fell off the truck. >> Right. >> If the work has to be digitized because it's not already in a digital form, the amount digitized can only be the amount that can be lawfully used under the exception. So you can't use this as a time to digitize your whole film collection. Again, you need to look at the touchstone of the amount that's reasonable for the purpose you have. >> Right. >> And you should also make sure that only the institution retains the digital copies. >> Right, maybe this is a good time to say that because of all the complexities of the TEACH Act, we're going to include in the course materials some PowerPoint slides that will summarize this for people. >> Exactly. >> Thanks for watching.
