Elizabeth I fully understand this was and is done with PPR rights. I am not entirely sure rights holder even realize it , but it has surely gone on too long to be challenged I personally believe streaming is very different and would need to be specified in a contract. If for instance company X had a contract on a major European film for 7 years and in year 3 sold the streaming rights in perpetuity to the Univ. of New Jersey and later that contract expired and the rights were sold to company Y who approached the Univ. of New Jersey about that and other films in it's collection only to be told that had bought the rights in perpetuity ( got all that folks), company Y and the overall rights holder could very well make a fuss. The reality of this happening is not high but I can tell you from personal experience that when approached two major French Film companies who had a contract with a US company to distribute titles ( that included exhibition rights) said NO when asked if they could sell the streaming rights in perpetuity. They would only allow streaming to be sold for the term of the contract. I think it is essential to have something in writing from the overall rights holder that such sales are OK. If not in every contract then just an acknowledgment that they agreed to it for any of their titles under contract. We all know formats and contracts have been changing very fast, but as a buyer I would want some assurance that the rights are guaranteed even if the distribution changes.
Again I think rights holders would be fools NOT to agree but a lot of the European rights holders in particular can be a little difficult. One issue to be blunt is that PPR rights on feature films where never a big deal, streaming is seen a major source of revenue and I expect rights holders to be very careful about it. I remember when DVD came in and a lot of companies got caught completely off guard believing that their contracts for films covered it at least for the term of the contract, but in some cases they were directly challenged by rights holders that this was a different format not in the contract and they were unable to release the films in DVD. Some contracts were redone and in some cases the DVD rights were sold to another company. Basically I just would not be willing to take the position a contract for a film includes any rights not specified and having had the experience of being rejected by rights holders when asking for those rights I am more than a little leery. Original discussion from videonews I am not sure this the right spot to discuss this ( as opposed to videolib) but I am curious about selling streaming rights in perpetuity. Mallory I am not trying to put you on the spot, but I find it odd that so many rights holders particularly foreign ones could or would agree. Most contracts limit a distributors rights to a fixed period of years and must be either renegotiated or given back at the end of the contract. In order for anyone to offer rights in perpetuity it would have to be spelled out in the contract. I could not for instance sell broadcast rights to film in perpetuity for a film I had a 5 year contract on, without this being agreed to by the rights holder. I think it very, very unlikely that the studios who could do this, will do it. They just don't like the concept of granting something like that in perpetuity. I worked very hard to get some of the filmmakers I work with to agree to this and obviously they do own the rights. I managed to get permission for educational institutions only on some PD films whose material had been accessed through archives, but the two major rights holder films I was involved with both refused to agree to selling rights in perpetuity for educational streaming. I would just ask folks to be careful when acquiring this and asking the company to basically certify that they do indeed have written permission from the rights holder to sell the streaming rights in perpetuity.. I suspect it may become more common in newer contracts, but again most major rights holders seem very ornery about selling something with rights "forever" even if it makes logical and monetary sense. Jessica Rosner Media Consultant 224-545-3897 (cell) 212-627-1785 (land line) jessicapros...@gmail.com Jessica, A quick reply: When we sell a PPR license, it is for the life of the DVD. We do not revoke a PPR license we have sold when our license to sell the rights expires. It would be absurd for me to call our mutual friend Gary Handman and say, "Hey Gary, please send back those DVDs I sold you for $249 a pop. My license to sell is up and hence, any license I sold is up." Some of our older contracts limit the term beyond which we can license a program for broadcast but we are not selling tv rights here. A Digital Site License (DSL) is the equivalent of a download/Electronic Sell Through, which by general industry standards, is a digital DVD. Our DSL license does not allow for our files to be hosted on remote platforms and streamed but only to be locally hosted on a password-protected connection via a closed-circuit system that is not accessible tot he public. You can read more here: http://kinolorberedu.com/terms.php and check out a sample license here: http://kinolorberedu.com/images/DSL_sample.jpg Questions? Let me know. Best, Elizabeth Elizabeth Sheldon Vice President Kino Lorber, Inc. 333 W. 39th St., Suite 503 VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
