When presenting a film, video, or TV program, whether it's for a class, group activity, campus event, or training, it's crucial to take into account the copyright ownership of the content you intend to use. This consideration is applicable regardless of the video's owner or its source. Copyright holders possess specific rights, commonly referred to as public performance rights (PPR).
In educational settings, when utilizing a film, video, or TV program for teaching purposes, you may be allowed to perform or display the entire work without permission under the face-to-face teaching exemption (17 U.S.C. §110(1)).
For online courses, the fair use doctrine might apply, depending on the extent and purpose of the film display. If fair use isn't applicable, obtaining a streaming license or using a licensed streaming service is necessary.
In most other scenarios, especially when the content is presented as part of an event, securing permission to display it, often in the form of a public performance rights license, is essential.
YES – you need public performance rights:
- If the presentation of the video is accessible to the public, such as a screening at a public event, OR
- If the presentation occurs in a public space without restrictions on access, like showing a film for a class in a venue open to anyone, OR
- If the audience extends beyond the regular circle of family and friends, for instance, a film screening organized by a club or organization.
NO – you do not need public performance rights:
- If you are privately watching the film at home with only family and friends present, OR
- If you are an instructor displaying the film in class as part of the official course curriculum to enrolled students in a classroom that is not open to others, OR
- If the film is in the public domain.
The Copyright Act at §110(1) (face to face teaching exemption) allows for the performance or display of video or film in a classroom where instruction takes place in classroom with enrolled students physically present and the film is related to the curricular goals of the course. The TEACH Act amendment to the Copyright Act, codified at § 110(2), permits the performance of a reasonable and limited portion of films in an online classroom. Under the TEACH Act, there is the express limitation on quantity, and an entire film will rarely constitute a reasonable and limited portion. Instructors may also rely upon fair use for showing films in an online course, although showing an entire film online also may not constitute fair use. Finally, the DMCA prohibits the circumvention of technological prevention measures (TPM) on DVDs and other media for the purpose of copying and distributing their content. Therefore, digitizing and streaming an entire DVD is not permissible unless an express exemption permits this. Currently, there is an exemption permitting faculty to circumvent TPM only to make clips of films for use in teaching and research.
There are many sources for streaming video content available that students can access on their own. For instance, subscription services Netflix and Hulu offer thousands of documentaries, mainstream film titles, and television programs on a streaming basis for an affordable monthly fee that most students likely already pay. Additionally, sites like Amazon and iTunes offer inexpensive streaming video rental. Instructors are encouraged to investigate availability of videos through these subscription services that they wish students to view and require students, as part of the class, to have one of these low-cost monthly services or to rent movies on their own time. Further, many commercial distributors of films offer licensing of streaming content, although the cost varies across vendors and is dependent upon a variety of factors, such as class size. There are also many online sources for free and legal streaming content:
Full length episodes from the acclaimed series.
Teacher resources across the curriculum - short films on a variety of subjects.
A National Preserve of Documentary Films about American Roots Cultures streamed with essays about the traditions and film-making. The site includes transcriptions, study and teaching guides, suggested readings, and links to related websites.
This library contains thousands of digital movies uploaded by Archive users which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts. Many of these videos are available for free download.
A thoughtful collection of links to hundreds of Indie Films, Film Noir, Documentaries & More. The list includes films by directors like Fritz Lang, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, Ken Loach, Sergei Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, Capra, Luc Besson, Godard, Hawks, Kubrick, and many more.
A Project of the School of Library and Information Science at UNC Chapel Hill. The purpose of the Open Video Project is to collect and make available a repository of digitized video content for the digital video, multimedia retrieval, digital library, and other research communities.
SnagFilms.com is a website where you can watch full-length documentary films for free, but also a platform that lets you "snag" a film and put it anywhere on the web." Searchable and browseable alphabetically or by topic.
TED talks is large collection of recorded presentations from the TED (Technology, Entertainment Design) conference held annually since 1984 in Long Beach California. Talks are generally short and run the gamut of topics from biotechnology to astronomy to population to urban design and beyond.
More than 1200 documentary films available for streaming. Subjects are varied and cover a wide range of personal, social, scientific, political, historical topics.
