Blue Ridge PBS - TTI - Copyright Confusion Made Clear

Copyright Confusion Made Clear

Possibly one of the most misunderstood and confusing legal issues classroom teachers have to deal with centers on using copyrighted videotapes in their classrooms. Out of fear of legal action, if a copyrighted video were used inappropriately, many schools and educators are simply not using this exciting and valuable resource.

Some schools only allow classrooms to view videotapes played from a central location, such as the library media center. They are denied the use of a VCR in their classroom. Even though this may "protect" a school from the unauthorized use of a video, it prevents the classroom teacher from having the needed control to stop, pause, rewind, or fast forward a video to accommodate their individual lesson requirements.

So, let's clear up the confusion on copyright laws regarding use videotapes in the classroom. Below are the facts you need to know to better understand your rights to use videotapes for instructional purposes in your classroom.

The Commonwealth of Virginia licenses a very large selection of instructional and educational video programs every year for broadcast by your Public Television stations for use in your classrooms. Blue Ridge PBS works very hard to provide quality, useful programs that correlate directly to the Virginia Standards of Learning. These programs are listed in the K-12 Instructional Resource Guide which are distributed to all individual schools in our 39 school division viewing area.

What does this license do for you?

Allows schools to record these programs as they are
aired and to keep the copies for at least a full
instructional year.

The teacher may use these tapes in her classroom
over and over again without fear of violating
copyright laws.

These licenses DO NOT give teachers permission to
make unrestricted multiple copies of these tapes, to
sell them, or to alter them to produce other works.

School media centers, or parent volunteers may also
record these programs in advance of a teacher's
request for them.

Usually, the liberal uses under these licenses are not allowed for programs broadcast outside of the above mentioned instructional block. This is not always the case, however. There are some copyright holders who do allow exceptions to the rules so school may record and keep copies of videos that have instructional merit. Programs broadcast from your local PBS station frequently have these rights. The PBS TeacherSource website, http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/, gives a listing of the month's PBS programming and highlights of the programs with extended classroom rights. Of course, anyone in Blue Ridge PBS's Education Services Department will be happy to tell you what programs have these extended rights.

The fact is any open broadcast program that does not have a specific license or exemption may still be used in the classroom, as long as certain guidelines are followed. First of all let's define "open broadcast program" as one that is distributed by a local TV station and doesn't require a commercial cable subscription to view. For example, programs on channels 7, 10, 13, 15, 21, and 27 can all be received in the Roanoke area without a cable connection and so would be considered open broadcast programs.

Here are the guidelines for using these programs in the classroom:

The teacher must record the program herself or
request in advance that the programs be
recorded. This should be noted in writing when
asking a school media specialist to record an off air
program.

The program must be used within 10 days of the
broadcast and may only be used in a face-to-face
teaching situation. It cannot be used for
entertainment.

The program may only be used ONCE.

The program must be erased after 45 days. This
allows time for the teacher to review the program
for other instructional resources or evaluation.

The program may not be given to another
teacher who did not ask in advance of the
broadcast for the program.

These guidelines apply only to open broadcast programs. They do NOT apply to cable only programs such as those on HBO or the Discovery Channel. Some cable programming may have special classroom rights. To find out, contact your Cable in the Classroom Representative. Your local cable company can tell you who that is.

Quiz time! Can a teacher go to a video store and rent a tape that says "For Home Use Only" and use it in her classroom?

YES, but there are restrictions:

Only the teacher who rented it must use the video.

It must be used in a face-to-face teaching
situation, NOT for entertainment.

The video cannot be part of a public performance.

Please don't go to a video store, rent a movie for entertainment, and show it to your class on a Friday afternoon as a reward for being good all week. The use of the video MUST be part of an actual lesson.

To summarize, if a teacher doesn't know if a special license or extended rights exist, she should plan in advance the uses of a video, write the objectives into her lesson plans, and use it within 10 days of broadcast.

Time for another quiz... miss Brown has a legally recorded program from a local TV channel, or a rented video. This program is a part of her lesson and is being used in a face-to-face teaching situation. She asks the Media Specialist, Miss Green, to play the program at 1:00 over the school cable system so she can see it in her classroom (there is no VCR in the classroom). Mr. Orange, a teacher who did not meet the just explained fair use requirements, just happens to turn on his classroom TV at 1:00 and sees the program. Mr. Orange likes what he sees and lets his students watch the program.

Who has committed a crime in this situation?

Miss Brown has done nothing wrong. Miss Green is also in the clear. Poor Mr. Orange just committed an act that could cost him as much as $20,000 if convicted by a judge and jury of copyright infringement. This is the real problem with centrally located playback equipment that sends TV signals to all classrooms.

Teachers need to unmistakably understand that if they did not meet all of the fair use requirements in advance, they may not view this video with their class. Just because it's on their closed circuit cable system does not mean that it's okay for anyone to use!!

The good news is the above example DOES NOT apply to instructional videos licensed by the Commonwealth for school use and broadcast on your PBS stations such as Blue Ridge PBS. This license allows this practice, even if it isn't a good instructional use.

The BEST video resources Virginia teachers have are those licensed by the Department of Education and distributed by your local PBS station, Blue Ridge PBS. Teachers are granted very liberal use rights for these programs when they are used in classroom instruction.

Titile 17 of the U.S. Code PL94-553 1978

SECTION 106: EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS OF
COPYRIGHT OWNERS

Five rights belong to copyright owners exclusively:

Reproduce the copyrighted work
Prepared derivative works based on the work
Publish the work by distributing copies to the public
by sale, rental, lease, or lending
Publicly perform the copyrighted work
Publicly display the work

SECTION 107: FAIR USE

Four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use of a copyrighted work is fair:

Purpose and character of the use, including whether
such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit
educational purposes
Nature of the copyrighted work
Amount and substantiality of the portion used in
relation to the work as a whole
Effect of the use upon potential market for or value
of the work

Blue Ridge PBS...
Your Community for Lifelong Learning!
P.O. Box 13246
Roanoke, Virginia 24032
(540) 344-0991 (888) 332-7788

Linda W. Pharis, ext. 1764
V.P. Educational Services

Sheila Campbell, ext. 1765
Resources Manager

Marshall Gillespie, ext. 1766
K-12 Specialist

Trish Lawson, 1768
JASON Coordinator

Kay Hammer, 1768
JASON Coordinator

Educational Multimedia

Introduction
Under the copyright law, the fair use of a copyrighted work without permission of the copyright owner, for purposes such as teaching, research, scholarship, criticism and news reporting, is not an infringement of copyright. The fair use provision in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 has become the basis for subsequent specific interpretive guidelines, for books and periodicals, music, and off-air video-taping. Although they do not have the force of law, these guidelines have been considered a "safe harbor" for permissible use.
PBS was a participant in the Conference on Fair Use (CONFU) disucssion on digital fair use guidelines. While PBS has not formally endorsed the Proposal for Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia (1996), we believe that the proposal may serve to provide guidance for the application of fair use principles by educators, scholars and students who develop multimedia projects using portions of copyrighted works, as part of the systematic learning activity of nonprofit educational institutions. Educational multimedia projects combine students' or educators' original material (such as course notes or commentary) together with copyrighted media formants (such as motion media, music, text, graphics, illustrations, photographs and digital software) into an integrated presentation. A summary of the Educational Multimedia Guidelines follows. To read more, see the Final Report to the Commissioner on the Conference on Fair Use (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/confu/confurep.pdf).

Under the proposed guidelines, educators may incorporate portions of lawfully acquired copyrighted works (obtained through lawful means such as purchase, gift or license) into educational multimedia projects for curriculum-based instruction at educational institutions, and students may do so when producing their own educational multimedia projects for a specific course, subject to certain restrictions.

Permitted Uses.
Educators may perform and display their educational multimedia projects, in the course for which they were created, in curriculum-based instruction to students:

for face-to-face instruction;

for students' directed self-study; and

so long as the technology limits access and prevents the making of copies of copyrighted material, over the educational institution's secure electronic network for instruction to students at remote sites enrolled in curriculum-based courses (in real time or for after class review or directed self-study). If the network or technology cannot prevent copying, then use of the multimedia educational project over an otherwise secure network is limited to 15 days after its initial real-time remote use or 15 days after assignment for directed self-study; thereafter, one of two "use copies" (see paragraph 4 below) may be placed on reserve in the library or similar facility for on-site use by students enrolled in the course.

Students must be advised that they may not copy the educational multimedia project.

Educators also may perform or display the projects in presentations to peers at workshops and conferences. Students may perform or display their educational multimedia projects for educational uses in the course for which they were created, and may use them in their portfolios as examples of their academic work.

Time Limits.
Educators may use their educational multimedia projects for teaching courses, for a period of up to two years after the first instructional use with a class. Thereafter, permission is required for each copyrighted portion incorporated in the project. Student's use of their own project is limited to the course for which it was created and to later portfolio use.

Portion Limits.
These limits, "in the aggregate" (i.e., on the amount that may be copied from a single copyrighted work), apply cumulatively to each educator's or student's multimedia project for the same academic semester, cycle or term.

Motion media: Up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less, in the aggregate.

Text: Up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less, in the aggregate. An entire poem of less than 250 words may be used, but not more than three poems by one poet, or five poems by different poets from any anthology may be used. For poems of greater length, 250 words may be used, but no more than three excerpts by a poet, or five excerpts by different poets from a single anthology.

Music, lyrics, and music video: Up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics from an individual musical work (or in the aggregate of extracts from an individual work), whether the music is embodied in copies, or audio or audiovisual works. Any alterations to a music work shall no change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work.

Photographs and illustrations: An entire work may be used but no more than 5 images by an artist or photographer, and no more than 10% or 15 images, whichever is less, from a published collective work.

Copyrighted database or data table: Up to 10% or 2500 field entries (items of information in a record of a database, such as name or social security number) or cell entries (intersections where a row and column meet on a spreadsheet), whichever is less.

Computer programs: Beyond the scope of the guidelines.

Limits on Copying and Distribution.
For educator and student uses, only two "use copies may be made, only one of which may be placed on reserve (see paragraph 1 above). An additional copy may be made for preservation purposes, but may be used or copied only to replace a lost, stolen or damaged use copy. Each principal creator of a jointly created project may retain one copy, for the uses permitted educators and students. Further use requires permission for all copyrighted works incorporated in the project. Educators and students who anticipate their work may be more broadly disseminated are advised to seek permissions during the development process.

Notices of Attribution, Acknowledgement and Use Restrictions.
Educators and students are reminded to credit sources (identify the work's source, including where available the author, title, publisher, and date and place of publication) and to display copyright information (copyright notice, year of first publication, and name of copyright holder) if shown in the original source, for all works incorporated into an educational multimedia project. Such information may be combined and shown in a separation section of the project, except that for images incorporated into the project for permissible remote instruction, credit and copyright information must be attached to the image file and appear on the screen when the image is viewed. If displaying credit and copyright information would conflict with instructional objectives (e.g., would provide answers to examination questions), the information may be linked to the image in a manner compatible with the instructional objectives. Alterations to incorporated portions of copyrighted works may be made only to support specific instructional objectives, and educators and students are advised to note if any such alterations have been made. Educators and students must include on the opening screen of their multimedia project and on any accompanying print material a notice that certain materials are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and have been prepared according to the educational multimedia fair use guidelines, and are restricted from further use.

Licenses and Contracts.
Educators and students should determine whether specific works or data used are subject to licenses or contracts, which are not superseded by fair use principles.

PBS TeacherSource: Multimedia Copyright for Educators http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/copyright/copyright_ed_multi.shtm

Used with permission