Dear Mike, Gary beat me to it, but my email was mostly composed already...
You might want to check the last week of Videolib since this is debated to the extreme here on the listserv. One thing, is that if it's DVD, you would be breaking encryption which is a no-no no matter what in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act<http://www.copyright.gov/reports/studies/dmca_report.html>. Distributors, of course, also think that Fair Use (in terms of "portion" of film and in commercial harm to the film -- the latter which we've all faced the last few years) would also prohibit an entire work being put online. AV Librarians say that there's no case law prohibiting use of a full-length film. But, I would point to various cases against file-sharing internet sites as something a court would use as precedent, even if what we are talking about is educational. Personally, I think that between sovereign immunity, small distributors lack of desire to sue (since we're the one's most damaged by conversion of formats, not the studios who have most of their best-selling material online), and a changed societal view of what's acceptable online is why most AV Librarians consider it acceptable -- in other words, like jay-walking, what is a crime and what are the odds of being caught and convicted? Distributors and many veteran librarians (Gary has been very even-handed on this) consider this thinking to be a double-edged sword. It can greatly help librarians in this time of decreased budgets, but there's going to be a lot less educational films being made or distributed without the financial model distributors and filmmakers have depended on for the last seventy years. In the trenches, the financial results have been devastating. Milestone is solely dependent on television sales and overseas distribution. My own feeling? Full-length films (especially if encrypted) is illegal to put online in any case. (My own feeling and based on my interpretation of the law.) As for what I consider a portion, my rule of thumb for a cease-and-desist on my feature films is that anything over five minutes better be transformative and wonderful for me not to act. And for those that are really wonderful, I send thank you notes to the creators. -- Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 Fax: 201-767-3035 email: [email protected] www.milestonefilms.com www.comebackafrica.com www.yougottomove.com www.ontheboweryfilm.com www.arayafilm.com www.exilesfilm.com www.wordisoutmovie.com www.killerofsheep.com <http://www.killerofsheep.com/> Join "Milestone Film" on Facebook and Twitter! and the Association of Moving Image Archivists <http://www.amianet.org/>! Follow Milestone on Twitter! <http://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms> On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 12:34 PM, Schmitt, Mike <[email protected]> wrote: > There seems to be this notion from faculty at my campus that they can take > a program with copyright and place the entire movie on D2L or other online > sources. I don't believe a campus has the right to place an entire program > online for students to watch at their convenience. I don't believe the > TEACH Act or Fair Use cover this type of situation. If someone can point > to a particular piece of copyright law that would illustrate this that > would be helpful. > > Does anyone have specific examples of campuses be targeted/fined for > copyright infringement? > > I would appreciate any assistance you can provide. > > Thanks, > > Mike Schmitt > UW-Green Bay > > 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.
