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[bootsy767]

Hello all,

   I have been tenaciously trying to start a student film society at my college. However, I have been told by a number of people on campus if I want to screen movies in a public place, I would need to pay for a license on a film-by-film basis. This would mean I could probably only screen one movie a month, and that is if the student government would even approve my organization. I want official approval, because I would be able to use auditoriums on campus for film screenings.
  Now I have read the copyright law, and from what I understand, a movie has to be part of a curriculum in order to be shown free of charge. So here is my first question: Is this interpretation correct?
  I also know that there are student film societies on other campus which regularly screen film and do not pay for the license. I contacted the Program Coordinator for one who told me the didn't think it was a problem as long as I wasn't charging and it was on campus. So my second question: Why does their college allow movie screenings in the manner I intend, and my college consider them copyright infringement? For reference, I attend Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, and the school I contacted was in New York.
  Finally, I was searching online and I encountered http://www.filmbank.co.uk/, which offers a public video screening license to colleges and societies in the U.K. Obviously, I am not eligible, but does anyone know of a U.S. equivalent that I could try and pursue for my college? I know that Allegheny uses an organization called Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. to acquire movie screening rights (http://sites.allegheny.edu/studentinvolvement/student-organizations/navigator-resource-guide/event-planning/movie-showing/). However, it is only on a movie-by-movie basis as far I can tell.

   I'm starting to feel kind of desperate right now, I actually emailed filmbank to see if they knew any U.S. equivalents--though there has been no response yet. If anyone on this site can help me, I would be incredibly grateful.

[Kaitlin]

You don't say whether the film society is for entertainment purposes for the student body as a whole, or whether it's a club that focuses on film critique for a smaller defined membership group. 

Generally speaking public performances of films do need a license separate from what you'd get with your purchase/rental of a dvd.  What you're looking to find out is whether the sort of performance you're contemplating comes under the "fair use" exception to copyright infringement, particularly "fair use" as it relates to academics and/or as it relates to film criticism.   (Note: copyright is not my main area of practice.)


I did a google search of "fair use college campuses film screenings" and this 2008 article came up, from Duke University, it's worth a read:

http://library.duke.edu/blogs/scholcomm/2008/05/31/a-copyright-use-case-on-film-screenings/

Particularly, note that it says: "If a regular student group that meets for a clearly educational purpose wants to view a film, for example, I think that performance is allowable under the exception and does not require permission [i.e a license], especially if there is a faculty advisor for the group or some other clear connection to the institution’s curriculum."


In case you are doing the screenings for entertainment purposes, the article does also mention a service a lot of colleges use for licensing: http://www.swank.com/.

Also take a look at Wesleyan University's policy on film screenings (but take it with a fist-full of salt as I found at least one glaring error there):
http://www.wesleyan.edu/ip/outside/screenvideo.htt

They remind students that some works may already be in the public domain* and interestingly explain that the university itself may have already purchased certain dvd's with public performance rights which, if free and on campus, can be shown without paying a licensing fee.  Something to check into with your own administration.


Good luck!

*IMPORTANT--although the article say that "A film is in the public domain if the copyright has not been renewed after 28 years."  That is NOT correct.  The 28 year/renewal requirement would only apply to works first published within a certain range of dates (1923 through 1963), not all works.  A chart setting out a grid for determining when various works enter the public domain is at: http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm.

[bootsy767]

Thank you for the reply. To clarify; the screenings would be for members of the club, however there would not be a professor present.Though if the club becomes official, then it will have a faculty adviser. I want each screening to begin with an introduction of the film, and then after we watch, maybe an hour or so of discussion. I am meeting with the Student Organizer soon to talk about the colleges policy on fair use. I think because if they understand my purpose is clearly educational they might agree with me.

Will an instructor not being present at the screening be a problem? The article on Duke's library blog seems to think not, but in the Copyright Law it uses the term face-to-face, which suggests to me that there must be someone qualified present. Or is this irrelevant because my educational intent already implies fair use? If someone could clarify this, I would be grateful.

[Kaitlin]

I'm afraid I can't advise in this area, or say whether any course of action is definitively OK or not. My gut feeling is that this would be OK if there's a faculty adviser -- but that's not a legal opinion. 

Nevertheless I can offer some more information. 

I checked out Nimmer on Copyrights in regard to fair use and the face to face requirement.   (Nimmer is a well-respected treatise on copyright, frequently cited by courts.)  At 2-8 Nimmer on Copyright § 8.15 B[2] it says the following:

The "Face-To-Face" Requirement. The Section 110(1) exemption is applicable only to "face-to-face teaching activities." This does not require that the performance in question necessarily be executed by a "live" performer in the classroom. It includes performances of motion pictures and other audiovisual works. "Face-to-face teaching activities" is intended rather "to exclude broadcasting and other transmissions from an outside location into classrooms, whether radio or television and whether open or closed circuit." fn15 On the other hand, "as long as the instructor and pupils are in the same building or general area, the exemption would extend to the use of devices for amplifying sound and for projecting images." fn16 Thus, "face-to-face," the House Report states, "does not require that the teacher and students be able to see each other, although it does require their simultaneous presence in the same general place." fn17

fn15: H. Rep., p. 81. As to exemptions for certain instructional and other educational transmissions, see § 8.15[C] infra.
fn16: H. Rep., p. 81.
fn17: Id.
 
So it seems that "face-to-face" in the educational fair use context is primarily intended to prevent certain kinds of broadcasts into schools, rather than having any relevance to a teacher being face-to-face with the students. 

[Smokin]

Kinda moot for this thread, but the teach act and DMCA significantly changed the whole face to face thing for teachers and universities. New considerations were made for the internet age and internet education. What and how everything was implemented , I dunno, I'm not so keen on the specifics. What little I do remember was that broadcasts needed to be available to students only and not open or accessible to the public, must be an official school not just some shmoe calling him/herself an educational purpose, and all the normal blah blah blah stuff you find in copyrights and fairuse for educational purposes.