It is always more complicated with feature films and foreign rights holders. In the old days no contract really covered streaming or selling a file in perpetuity and I have yet to see one again for feature material that does explicitly . I learned this the hard way when I had Flicker Alley ask MK2 about both TRIP TO THE MOON and INFERNO which FA has streaming rights for but only as part of 7 year contract, and the answer was NO!. The copyright lawyer I deal with ( who is one of the best) said that unless the contract did specify rights could be sold in perpetuity, they could not be. This is unlikely to affect anything of yours but it is a bitch with feature fiction material a well as some non fiction. I do think there ARE rights holders who have been willing to sell these rights but it is a case by case basis. Sadly rights holders like filmmakers are often in the old mindset where they think they can just keep reselling the same title to same place every 5 to 10 years. It can be hard to explain to them that they should just get a good sale and be done with it.
However I don't see ANY scenario by which studios will do this and find it hard to believe some of the more stubborn or controlling right holders will either ( this includes everyone from Chaplin Estate to Studio Canal). Never going to be able to get streaming rights in perpetuity on many films but should not stop us from working on getting as many as we can. On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 4:46 PM, Lawrence Daressa <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Newsreel's understanding of this issue has always been that we have the > right to sell you a license to make a file and to migrate that file (make a > copy of its) so long as we have a contract with the copyright holder giving > us the right to sell such licenses. The original file and the migrated > files may be used for their lives just like a DVD. We may not sell you the > right to copy or migrate a file in perpetuity, specifically after our > contract with that copyright holder has expired. This does not solve the > librarian's problem of knowing when file migration privileges for a film > ends. Thanks. > > Larry > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] On Behalf Of > [email protected] > Sent: Monday, March 04, 2013 12:57 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: videolib Digest, Vol 64, Issue 9 > > Send videolib mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > https://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/listinfo/[email protected] > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than > "Re: Contents of videolib digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: DRL In Perpetuity (Jessica Rosner) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2013 15:22:14 -0500 > From: Jessica Rosner <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Videolib] DRL In Perpetuity > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: > < > cacre6m-njfjh+xukjga5rhwm4su-hmosk1a1_fyckpk4p-5...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > Film has always been much more complicated rights wise than music or > written works. Take it for granted the studios will simply never agree to > sell perpetual streaming but then they are most likely to have their work > on big streaming sites anyway. What we generically call "educational media" > basically non fiction work that is often not sold retail probably has the > most promise in terms of getting filmmakers and distributors to agree to > perpetual DSL but there are still a lot of filmmakers in particular living > in the old days that need convincing. The trickiest group are independent > and foreign films. The contracts expire and the foreign rights holders are > downright nasty on any kind of perpetual right. Companies like Gaumont, > MK2, as well as smaller sales agents who handle films have not been willing > to agree to this. It would be in their interest to agree but that rarely > makes any difference to them. > > However let's stick to titles where you can get rights holders/filmmakers > to agree. The one stop idea is in my view just not likely to work. Too many > cooks. There are literally THOUSANDS of separate rights holders and hard to > imagine they would ever be able to do this. The current situation is > complicated, it is not financially feasible for filmmakers to set up their > own site and it is tough for many small distributors as well. If they sell > those rights to the bigger places the amount of money rarely covers much of > their cost. I am prejudiced since I mostly work directly with filmmakers > but I think selling the film outright to the institution to put on their > own system makes the most sense. You own it so you don't have to worry ( > beyond your own tech people) about a site going down, a company going out > of business. > > Again this only works when you can get the rights in perpetuity and per > above there are wide swaths of films where I don't see this happening. > Basically it is just never going to be as simple as that TV commercial > where the dusty motel has every movie ever made on its cable system. I > suspect there will inevitably be a mix of films you can stream on the > commercial sites by personal accounts, films you can stream from various > larger collections that aggregate, as well as smaller places that set it > up, films you can buy and stream yourself and a whole lot of films you may > never get streaming rights on at all. > > Fun stuff > > On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 1:43 PM, Jo Ann Reynolds < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > Perpetual DSL would go a long way toward easing my workload. The more > > titles we get from different vendors, the more work, the harder to > > track.* > > *** > > > > ** ** > > > > I?ll go back to a suggestion I made a while ago on this list for > > filmmakers and distributors to get together and make your equivalent > > of an iTunes store so we can have one stop shopping. If that?s to > > overwhelming at the very least, standardize your site searches and > > terminology so the end user doesn?t have to learn new terms at every > > vendor?s site.**** > > > > **1) **The more titles in one place, the easier they are to find, > > the more they will be used, and probably equals more sales. Certainly > > tracking licenses would be easier and you wouldn?t have to worry about > > the file format issue because you?d be in control of that.**** > > > > **2) **The url or link would be called the same thing and found in > > the same place for every title. Picture the current situation for your > > ultimate end user, faculty and students. Every vendor to which a > > library subscribes has a different looking website, with different > > searching, and different terminology and location for their > > permalinks. Multiple that by ebooks and ejournals and you?ve got job > > security for librarians because we have to tell them how to find and > > use the stuff. We?d much rather it be intuitive for the user and spend > > our time helping patrons with things we really shouldn?t expect them > > to know how to do.**** > > > > **3) **Make your peace with IP protected access rather than the > > additional step of availability only via a courseware system. This > > will reduce the cost per view and help with purchasing decisions.**** > > > > **4) **You can add extra goodies like linking to segments, the > > ability for faculty to create clip libraries so they can show only the > > segments they need to.**** > > > > **5) **Faculty can view what the library has purchased rights to as > > well as shop for other titles.**** > > > > **6) **Provide METADATA so we can index it in our catalog, that?s > > where our patrons go to look for stuff.**** > > > > **7) **Learn what stop words are, e.g. A, An, The, and don?t > > alphabetize your titles under those words. Do you know how many > > millions of books and movies begin with one of those words.**** > > > > **8) **Include identifying info beyond the title, e.g. date, > > director, producer/director, stars because so many movies have the > > same or nearly the same title.**** > > > > **9) **Provide usage statistics, e.g. number of views, date of last > > view, term, cost per term, cost per view over the term.**** > > > > **10) **If licenses do expire, set it up so that the purchaser receives > > a report, as in #9, and send it at least one month or more before they > > expire.**** > > > > ** ** > > > > Let me tell you, faculty just do not get why it can sometimes take > > months to acquire a stream. They think everything is like Amazon > > instant video or the iTunes store where they can get it instantly.**** > > > > ** ** > > > > Off my soapbox for now.**** > > > > ** ** > > > > Jo Ann**** > > > > ** ** > > > > Jo Ann Reynolds**** > > > > Reserve Services Coordinator**** > > > > University of Connecticut Libraries**** > > > > 369 Fairfield Road, Unit 1005RR**** > > > > Storrs, CT 06269-1005**** > > > > [email protected]**** > > > > 860-486-1406**** > > > > 860-486-5636 (fax)**** > > > > *http://classguides.lib.uconn.edu/mediaresources ***** > > > > ** ** > > > > ** ** > > > > ** ** > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Bob Norris > > *Sent:* Monday, March 04, 2013 1:01 PM > > *To:* [email protected] > > *Subject:* [Videolib] DRL In Perpetuity**** > > > > ** ** > > > > With all the discussions going on about desired pricing flexibility, > > I'd like to bring up another collector request that is arising more > > and more- digital rights licenses in perpetuity. The logic, which I > > agree with, is prior formats (DVDs, VHS, etc.) were not limited by a > > term. Plus it is an administrative burden for universities to track > > hundreds if not thousands of expiration dates. For this discussion, > > let's assume that it is within the distributor's rights to grant > > digital rights for the life of the original digital file. **** > > > > ** ** > > > > I pick this scenario because I believe it is within distributor's > > rights to grant a perpetual DRL as long as the file format is not > > changed and some buyers seem to understand this and consider it an > acceptable solution. > > However, I do not see how this reduces the university's administrative > > costs. You would still have to track the original file formats and > > make sure they are not changed. In fact it seems even harder to track > > and enforce because IT is often oblivious of copyright issues and > > would not necessarily notify librarians of any format changes.**** > > > > ** ** > > > > Am I missing something or would the above solution simply shift the > > admin burden, not eliminate it? Plenty of distributors would like to > > accommodate collector's needs as long as it is within their legal > > right to do so and they have reasonable assurances that university > > controls are in place to adhere to the license terms. Any thoughts or > > insights on how to achieve > > this?**** > > > > ** ** > > > > Bob**** > > > > ** ** > > > > *Robert A. Norris***** > > > > Managing Director**** > > > > Film Ideas, Inc.**** > > > > Phone: (847) 419-0255**** > > > > Email: [email protected]**** > > > > Web: www.filmideas.com**** > > > > ** ** > > > > 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. > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment scrubbed and removed. > HTML attachments are only available in MIME digests. > > End of videolib Digest, Vol 64, Issue 9 > *************************************** > > 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.
