Copyright: Film and Video

Inside the Classroom (Educational Use)

Copyrighted audiovisual works include both digital and traditional film and video formats. Owning a film or video does not confer the right to show the work. The copyright owner specifies, at the time of purchase or rental, the circumstances in which a film or video may be "performed".  However, section 110 (1) of the Copyright Act of 1976 created a "face-to-face" exception that allows an educator to show a work (including home use video) in class, if:

• the film or video is shown as part of the instructional program
• the relationship between the film or video and the course is explicit
• the film or video is not shown it  entertainment or recreational purposes, without the copyright holder's permission, whatever the work's intellectual content.
• the viewing is limited to the students in the classroom
• the version shown a legitimate copy with the copyright notice included. A prohibited action would be in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display of individual images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title, and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made. This would include something personally copied/ DVR'd from a streaming show or other medium.
• the film or video is shown it either in a classroom or other school location devoted to instruction such as a studio, workshop, library, gymnasium, or auditorium if it is used for instruction.
• the film or video is shown it either in a face-to-face setting or where students and teacher(s) are in the same building or general area. 

Outside the Classroom

Students, faculty, and staff may view college-owned films and videos at workstations or in small-group rooms in the library. You may also watch these videos at home or in a residence hall room if no more than a few friends are involved.

Fintel Library licenses films and video from two streaming media services, Kanopy and Films on Demand, which allow for non-commercial viewing by groups of students, faculty, and/ or staff outside of the classroom.   There are a limited number of other films on DVD which offer non-commercial public performance rights. 

If a fee will be charged for a viewing, the organizer(s) of the viewing  must obtain explicit permission from the copyright owner for "public performance" rights. Consult the Colket Center (378-5125)  regarding procedures to obtain permission for a public performance. 

Guidelines for Off-Air Recording of Broadcast Programming for Educational Purposes (Copyright Circular 21)

1. The guidelines were developed to apply only to off-air recording by non-profit educational institutions.

2.  A broadcast program may be recorded off-air simultaneously with broadcast transmission (including simultaneous cable transmission) and retained by a non-profit educational institution for a period not to exceed the first forty-five (45) consecutive calendar days after date of recording. Upon conclusion of such retention period, all off-air recordings must be erased or destroyed immediately. “Broadcast programs” are television programs transmitted by television stations for reception by the general public without charge.

3. Off-air recordings may be used once by individual teachers in the course of relevant teaching activities, and repeated once only when instructional reinforcement is necessary, in classrooms and similar places devoted to instruction within a single building, cluster, or campus, as well as in the homes of students receiving formalized home instruction, during the first ten (10) consecutive school days in the forty-five (45) day calendar day retention period. “School days” are school session days—not counting weekends, holidays, vacations, examination periods, or other scheduled interruptions—within the forty-five (45) calendar day retention period.

4. Off-air recordings may be made only at the request of, and used by, individual teachers, and may not be regularly recorded in anticipation of requests. No broadcast program may be recorded off-air more than once at the request of the same teacher, regardless of the number of times the program may be broadcast.

5. A limited number of copies may be reproduced from each off-air recording to meet the legitimate needs of teachers under these guidelines. Each such additional copy shall be subject to all provisions governing the original recording.

6. After the first ten (10) consecutive school days, off-air recording may be used up to the end of the forty-five (45) calendar day retention period only for teacher evaluation purposes, i.e., to determine whether or not to include the broadcast program in the teaching curriculum, and may not be used in the recording institution for student exhibition or any other non-evaluation purpose without authorization.

7. Off-air recordings need not be used in their entirety, but the recorded programs may not be altered from their original content. Off-air recordings may not be physically or electronically combined or merged to constitute teaching anthologies or compilations.

8. All copies of off-air recordings must include the copyright notice on the broadcast program as recorded.

9. Educational institutions are expected to establish appropriate control procedures to maintain the integrity of these guidelines.