Farhad, Recent decisions (Hathi Trust, Georgia) imply that digitizing texts is not a special form of copying (though neither of these decisions remotely allows for streaming entire movies to students, by any stretch). The DMCA (chapter 12 of Title 17) however makes it an infringement to circumvent the encryption or technological protections which prevent copying DVDs. (We were just discussing this problematic situation re. regional coding, which is not specified in the law but is generally assumed to be covered by it, maybe.)
The only educational exception so far is that teachers can break encryption to make clips for use in the classroom. Short clips. So there is a law you can point to that distinguishes DVDs from books. Judy ________________________________ From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] on behalf of Moshiri, Farhad [mosh...@uiwtx.edu] Sent: Friday, October 12, 2012 1:06 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: [Videolib] Change of format I’m sure many of you had the same experience as I: your IT Department people would come to the library and tell you why are you collecting all these DVDs, CDs, VHS tapes? Transfer them all to streaming video or audio and put them online with log-in access protection. When I reply that copyright law does not let you change the format without the copyright holder’s permission, they tell me show us the law. They say even if it is in the law, it falls into fair use for non-profit educational institution. Can you direct me to the exact place in the law that talks about change of format and its exceptions? Also, yesterday one of them told me a federal judge has ruled that scanning books is not against copyright law. He said there is no difference between scanning a print book and put it online and transferring a DVD, CD, or a VHS to streaming video or audio. What do you think? Thanks. Farhad Moshiri Audiovisual Librarian University of the Incarnate Word San Antonio, TX ________________________________ This email and any files transmitted with it may be confidential or contain privileged information and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that you have received this email in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this email and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please immediately delete the email and any attachments from your system and notify the sender. Any other use of this e-mail is prohibited. Thank you for your compliance.
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.
