A public performance as described in US Copyright Law (17 §101) states
(1) to perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered.
(2) To transmit or otherwise communicate a performance or display of the work to a place specified by clause (1) or to the public, by means of any device or process, whether the members of the public capable of receiving the performance or display receive it in the same place or in separate places and at the same time or at different times.
Section 110(1) of the Copyright Act addresses performance and display of copyrighted materials in the face-to-face classroom. For performance and display through digital transmission (i.e. Blackboard) see the TEACH ACT.
FAQs about Media use in the Classroom
1. Can faculty show films to a class?
2. Can rental store films be shown in class?
3. Can library films be shown in class?
4. Do I need public performance rights to show a film in class?
5. When do I need public performance rights?
6. How do I go about getting public performance rights?
7. Do the Libraries films automatically come with public performance rights?
8. When I order a film for the libraries’ collection, can I request public performance rights?
9. How can I tell if the film I am borrowing from the library has public performance rights?
10. What about the films that can be purchased with streaming capability?
11. What about using streaming Netflix?
12. Can I show a YouTube video in my class?
13. Can I copy a video to make a short portion or a compilation of video clips to show in my class?
1. Can faculty show films to a class?
Yes, faculty may show all or part of a film (i.e. documentary, feature film) in a face-to-face class setting, but there are some boundaries. The showing must be:
2. Can rental store films be shown in class?
Yes, these are lawfully made.
3. Can library films be shown in class?
Yes. The Educational Films can purchase films, let us know what you need for class.
4. Do I need public performance rights to show a film in class?
No.
5. When do I need public performance rights?
This is necessary when a film is shown and not related to a teaching activity. Campus clubs and social events that wish to show films must have permission or public performance rights. Any event that is open to the public is a public performance and needs public performance rights.
6. How do I go about getting public performance rights?
The library is not responsible for obtaining public performance rights for films that the library already owns but the Educational Film Library staff can help determine copyright holders and how to contact them.
7. Do the Libraries films automatically come with public performance rights?
Not automatically for every film, although some film distributors include public performance rights with the basic purchase. In some cases you need to purchase the rights on a situational basis. In Kanopy, titles that include public performance rights are marked with a PPR symbol. If you have questions as to whether one of the library's licensed films includes public performance rights, email Educational Films at edfilms@mailbox.sc.edu.
8. When I order a film for the libraries’ collection, can I request public performance rights?
The cost is often higher for public performance rights than the typical cost for a film. Let us know if you need public performance rights, but we may be unable to cover the cost. Our focus is licensing titles used in the classroom or titles that students need to watch to fulfill a required class assignment. Some of the library's streaming databases come with public performance rights, so feel free to ask Educational Films if this applies to a title you are interested in.
9. How can I tell if the film I am borrowing from the library has public performance rights?
Some films have it noted in the catalog record. You can check with Educational Films if you have a question about a specific films public performance rights.
10. What about the films that can be purchased with streaming capability?
Thomas Cooper Library has purchased several streaming film databases including American History in Video, Black Studies in Video, Counseling and Therapy in Video, Dance in Video, Ethnographic Video Online, and Docuseek2. Check the libraries list of streaming databases.
11. What about streaming Netflix?
Instructors may wish to have students watch films outside of class. While setting this up through Blackboard or a content management system may seem like a solution, showing entire popular, general release movies this way is a real stretch of Fair Use and under the TEACH ACT involves licensing. Consider having your students get their own accounts through services like Netflix or Amazon to view movies. While you may show a DVD film in its entirety in a face-to-face class, you most likely do not want to spend class time this way. These services are inexpensive solutions to the film viewing problem.
What about showing Netflix titles in the classroom? Netflix does allow one-time educational screenings of SOME of their documentaries. Learn more about that here: Netflix Educational Screenings. To find titles that allow this one-time educational screening, search here. Important: not all titles at that site allow educational screenings. You must search by title, and once you click on the title, as part of the synopsis it will either say 'Grant of Permission for Educational Screenings' or not. If that language is not included, you are not legally permitted by Netflix to show that title in the classroom.
12. Can I show a YouTube video in my class?
Yes using YouTube to demonstrate pedagogical points is fine, however, do not use YouTube videos that contain infringing content just as you would not use any other type of infringing content. YouTube is particularly rife with such material despite YouTube’s best efforts. The best way to handle a YouTube video is to link to it. Using YouTube’s embedded code for linking is ok also; it’s just code and YouTube makes it available for users to embed.
13. Can I copy a video to make a short portion or a compilation of video clips to show in my class?
Most films today are protected by content scrambling systems (CSS), technological protection measures (TPMs) or digital rights management (DRM), and it is a violation of the law to circumvent these protections to copy material from a film. Instructors can always advance video to the portion they wish to comment on, however, the 2012 DMCA exemptions permit faculty and students requiring close analysis of film and media excerpts to circumvent protection measures to make short portions available for viewing. The exemption applies only to motion pictures on DVD or from online distribution services and the circumvention is allowed only when “necessary because reasonably available alternatives, such as noncircumventing methods or using screen capture software…are not able to produce the level of high-quality content required to achieve the desired criticism or comment.” If very high quality copy is not required for the criticism or comment, the law permits the use of screen capture software. Faculty might try products like Camtasis, Jing, and Screencast-o-matic.
There is no definition of “short portions.” Consult the DMCA for more information. Also see the U.S. Copyright Office website for the 2012 “Rulemaking on Exemptions from Prohibition of technological Measures that Control Access to Copyright Works.”
Section 110(1) U.S. Copyright about face-to-face teaching:
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the following are not infringements of copyright:
(1) performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, 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;