Laura While there certainly can be SOME interpretation of "face to face" it is by far the most explicit and detailed part of copyright law as relates to libraries. Legal acquired films may be used in a class provided it takes place in an actual classroom ( pretty much any campus room can qualify) is limited to the students enrolled in the class, is a legit part of the course and an instructor is present ( I am sure a TA would qualify). Now when it gets to the claim that streaming a film to a student at any time in any place covers "face to face" THEN in my view you are clearly violating "Face to Face" but the whole point of the law was to permit films to be used during an actual class. This is not subject to "interpretation" and Mr. Saysles and others who say otherwise are flat out wrong. Now all of that said a rights holder can restrict those rights BY CONTRACT. They can impose conditions that limit rights granted under copyright law but they can only do this if the both control ALL sales directly and make these conditions an explicit contract which the buyer must aqknowlege they have read, understood and accepted. If an item is on Amazon it can be controlled or subject to additional conditions. Once a title is available through third party sellers it is not really possible to impose a contract or conditions that would take away rights granted under "face to face" or 108.
Right of First sale is also absolute and could only be restricted by contract at time of purchase per above. It is however important to understand that a fairly number of titles aimed at the academic market are in fact handled exclusively by the distributor/ filmmaker. These films rarely have much value or market to individuals and the distributors do charge a high price in order to make these films financially viable. They may and probably increasingly will come with some restrictions but they also often come with some added rights ( Public Performance, streaming). The short version of this is that if you can purchase a copy of a film from a legal source like Amazon, Midwest tape etc you can loan it, use it in the class, circulate etc. IF a title is only available directly from distributor they may impose restrictions by contract. On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 8:43 AM, Laura Jenemann <[email protected]> wrote: > Chris, Judith and list, > > The examples you provided are helping me understand what the larger > issues for librarians may be. > > Below is my attempt to understand the issues that Chris, Judith and Mary > have brought up. > > Am I on the right track, and if not, can you please tweak? > > 1) Distributors may interpret face-to-face instruction differently from > how libraries interpret this. For example: "screening a regular > consumer DVD in a classroom is a violation of copyright law, as stated > by the Warning Screen that appears before the movie." (See > http://johnsaylesblog.com/amigo-dvd-release/) > > 2) Moving image distributors may interpret right of first sale > differently than librarians. For example, Mary's letter that she shared > on the listserv and Judith's email below. > > Implications, concerns: > > Are libraries and librarians in face-to-face instruction scenarios > purchasing copyrights they already have at a cost of thousands of dollars? > > Could libraries and distributors being conflating rights of distributing > and licensing with rights in Sec. 108? > > Is it possible that libraries are unnecessarily giving back their Amazon > documentaries and re-purchasing at higher costs when they receive > letters like Mary's? > > Should libraries respond to distributors different interpretation, or > ignore them? > > If a face-to-face conference session is a better forum for discussion, > I'd be happy to help organize. > > Thank you for any wisdom the list can share with me. > > Regards, > > Laura > Laura Jenemann > Film Studies/Media Services Librarian > Johnson Center Library > George Mason University > > > On 2/18/2013 11:03 AM, Shoaf,Judith P wrote: > > I was doing some research recently into First Sale, and looked at the > > original US Supreme Court case, Bobbs-Merill vs. whatever Macy's was > > then. The publisher had put a label on their books saying they could > > not be sold for less than $1, but Macy's was violating that warning > > label. The court obviously ruled that once Bobbs-Merill had sold the > > books to a retailer they could label them all they wanted but they > > did not control resale terms. > > > > I think of that when I see those Warning Screens on DVDs..... > > > > Judy Shoaf > > > > ________________________________________ From: > > [email protected] > > [[email protected]] on behalf of Chris Lewis > > [[email protected]] > > > > Tangent alert: John Sayles also wrongly asserts that "screening a > > regular consumer DVD in a classroom is a violation of copyright law, > > as stated by the Warning Screen that appears before the movie. " > > Quoted from his "response" at the bottom of his own blog post about > > the release of his film "Amigo": > > http://johnsaylesblog.com/amigo-dvd-release/ > > > > This despite the fact that none of his other films are available > > with anything but home-use rights. 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. > -- Jessica Rosner Media Consultant 224-545-3897 (cell) 212-627-1785 (land line) [email protected]
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.
