Hi Jessica, Thank you for pointing out the fuzziness of my "educational goals" statment, though I did try qualify that by stating "what I'm allowed to do." I should have further stated "by copyright law or the vendor's license."
Yep, I'm very aware of the restrictions against digitizing and streaming without permission. Alas, my day is full of saying "no" to just such requests from faculty. And I have negotiated a few streaming rights, but the licensing and pricing model is still somewhat puzzling. BTW, that's good to know that distributors don't usually own the rights in perpetuity themselves. I'm learning already. <grin> Cheers, Matt ________________________________________ Matt Ball Media and Collections Librarian University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 mattb...@virginia.edu<mailto:mattb...@virginia.edu> | 434-924-3812 ________________________________ From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Jessica Rosner [jessicapros...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 3:09 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: Re: [Videolib] Question about streaming rights The law allows you to use a legal copy of a film IN class under the FACE to Face teaching instruction. You may not digitize and stream a film without permission/license from the rights holder. "Educational Goals" is sort of wishful thinking statement. If you could do anything you wanted because someone wanted to see a film, you could buy bootlegs, digitize all your VHS, heck just borrow some item from NetFlix or a local video store and copy it. You can by a film for $19.95 or $295.00 but it comes with specific rights and unless streaming is specifically included ( usually at a additional cost) you don't have them. Streaming rights are very complicated because other than studio films ( and by no means all of those) most films can not currently be sold with perpetual rights. Film rights tend to be on 7 to 10 year contracts with the distributors. I imagine some new contracts may indeed allow the sale of perpetual streaming rights but the number would not be high. Frankly I would be cautious on buying any perpetual rights on other than very new releases of non fiction films. I would have the seller certify they have those rights to sell in the terms of their contract as distributors very rarely own a film in perpetuity themselves. On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 2:51 PM, Ball, James (jmb4aw) <jmb...@eservices.virginia.edu<mailto:jmb...@eservices.virginia.edu>> wrote: Hello Everyone, I’m a bit perplexed by the complex licensing and pricing structures of streaming rights, and some of the recent talk on this listserv has helped clarify a question that’s been floating around my mind for a while, so I figure I’ll pose it to the collective wisdom. If I can buy a DVD for, say, $295.00 and I can keep it forever, and I’m allowed to do certain things with it to meet the educational goals of my institution, then why is it different for a streaming version of the same title? Some streaming rights have to be renewed every few years. Or, if there are perpetual rights they are often priced exorbitantly high. Doesn’t it make sense to pay the same price as for a DVD (maybe even less since manufacturing costs wouldn’t be an issue) and keep it forever, just like a DVD? Or even an e-book. And, as with an e-book, I would be bound to restrict access to it only to members of my institution. Perhaps this is a gross oversimplification of something that’s actually quite complex, so consider these the innocent (demented?) musings of a newbie, but I’d be interested in hearing others’ thoughts on the matter. Yours in hopefully not opening a Pandora’s box, Matt ________________________________________ Matt Ball Media and Collections Librarian University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 mattb...@virginia.edu<https://mail.eservices.virginia.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=62fe60f092584617be4c37bdfc2dcf42&URL=mailto%3amattball%40virginia.edu> | 434-924-3812 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. 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.
