So in today's lecture we're going to talk about some things that you might want to do with film and the copyright implications of those things. We're going to talk a bit about the copyright implications when you make a new film, show another person's film or a company's film, reproduce a film, or incorporate footage into a new film. So, when you make a new film, years ago, very few of us had ever done this. But nowadays, technology has made it really easy and popular. It can be a short clip or a long and complex video. And, in general, the same rules of creation apply to the copyright, as they do for other media, the same rules of joint authorship and so on. Oftentimes we put these films on a social media platform. >> That's true. >> And as with music and other formats, the terms of use of that social media platform will govern once the film has been uploaded there. Typically the platform asserts a non-exclusive right to use the material that's uploaded, and the platform may take down content that they deem infringing in some way. >> Well, yes, with it being so easy for us to use our camera, or our phones now to take a video, in addition to, to photos, it is no longer the the area that is only relegated to those who are professional filmmakers. We all, essentially, can become filmmakers if we choose to. So, in order to reproduce or show another person's film, we have to realize that the copyright owner has a right of reproduction and that's implicated if you format shift. If you move, for example, from DVD to streaming. Or from VHS to DVD. So showing a film implicates the rightsholder's right of public performance. And remember this is a public performance, so it is not a performance that's in your home, that's just among family and close acquaintances. So, the copyright statute does define public performance for us, which is helpful. And it says, to perform or display a work publicly means, one, to perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of family and its social acquaintances is gathered. Or, number two, to transmit or otherwise communicate a performance or display of the work to a place specified by the first clause, or to the public, by means of any device or process, whether the members of the public, capable of receiving and performing, or display, receive it in the same place, or in separate places, and at the same time, or at different times. >> [LAUGH]. Covers all the bases. >> Covers all the bases, and, probably, was written by a lawyer. So that's the definition of public performance that we have within the copyright statute. So, what if we want to show a film that falls within this definition of public performance? What does that mean we have to do? So if there's no other exception that applies, for example, the classroom exception or some other except, exception, then you need to seek permission, which is a matter of then gaining a public performance license. There are companies that do that. Two examples are Swank and Criterion, but both of them have catalogs of films for which they can grant public performance licenses. So, you first need to identify who has public performance licenses for the film that you want to show. And you can also possibly get public performance licenses from the copyright owner of the film itself. Realize that this covers popular feature films, it can cover educational films, documentaries, independent films, etc. You can also sometimes buy an ongoing public performance license or a streaming license. Sometimes you can buy a film with those rights bundled into the cost of the film. And there are some DVDs that we buy in our library collection that include those public performance licenses. >> Yes, same here, yeah. >> And that's true for all of us. That means an additional responsibility of, of being able to track those licenses and know that those licenses are there. We try and make certain that our theater refers students to the library and our film studies librarian, who tracks these things for us, in order to ask if we've already purchased public performance licenses. >> Good idea, yeah. >> So we don't purchase it a second time needlessly. So, it is important to make sure, though, that there really isn't another exception and copyright law that applies before you purchase a public performance license. So as one example, we had a graduate student who was showing a film for a group of students. It really wasn't part of instruction. It really was just for a gathering of students, and so, you know, he was advised, he needed to get a public performance license. And he did that, but when he communicated with the distributor who could grant those public performance licenses, the distributor came back and said, well, you have other films in, you know, Emory's collections, and you've never purchased educational licenses from us for those films, which, you know, of course, unnerved to, the poor graduate student. >> Yeah. Who then referred this back to the library, which was the thing to do. And so basically we kind of had a correspondence with the film distributor, saying, but we don't need an educational license that covers, it's covered under the classroom exception in U.S. copyright law. And essentially the, the film distributor, kind of, consented and, and did not require that we buy these educational licenses. I don't think that the, the distributor was particularly nefarious in this case. But I do think there's layers of complexity in copyright law. That, and streaming is introducing even more complexity. So I don't think distributors always know this rights landscape as much as we might think that they do, simply because they're distributors. >> Yeah. And what is public and what is private is, sometimes, difficult for someone to figure out. >> Yes. >> The definition actually is very helpful if you can manage to wade through it. >> [LAUGH] Yeah, if you can parse it into something meaningful. >> Yeah. Yeah, so we've talked a bit about film and video, but public performance can also be implicated in a live theatre production. Again, you have a place where a number of people who are beyond the circle of family and friends, gather and, and watch a performance. So you, you need to get a public performance license to put on a play. The license sometimes specifies the performances, what dates, what venues, the approximate size of the audience and so on. School plays are often asked about. I know people ask me about them, probably you too. Because, so often, people want to film their children in the play. >> Yes. >> And of course a personal recording is not a problem. But sometimes people want to film a play and sell it to the other parents. >> Mm-hm. >> And at that point there may be an issue. >> Right. >> That they may have exceeded what the license allowed. Another example that I'm familiar with is where a musical is performed a recording is made, and the actors in the musical want to watch it. >> Mm. >> Oftentimes the license will allow that, but showing it beyond that circle, and that very limited situation, is beyond, again, beyond the scope of the license. And as with movies, there may be separate copyright in the music, if it is a musical- >> That's true. >> Play. And there also, in some cases, may be copyright in the visual images of the sets. >> So it's important, if an institution is going to be recording a performance, that they make certain the licenses are broad enough to cover those additional uses. >> Yes. >> Beyond the performance on that particular day. >> And the more commercial and professional the performance, the more likely that there will also be restrictions that are not really part of copyright. But that may be agreed to with the set designers, with the people who move scenery, with the Screen Actors Guild for some of the actors and so on. For example, I became involved in some copyright issues around a play that my university was putting on about the last days from Martin Luther King. >> Mm-hm. >> And this play had been fraught in many ways because their, the playwright had had some difficulty getting permission from the King estate, but she had managed to do that. The theater had gotten the appropriate performance licenses. But they were worried about the set construction, the music. What could they play, what could they do that was copy, might be copyrighted and might infringe? >> Mm-hm. >> So there was, even in that situation, they were very cognizant of the rights that they needed to pay attention to when they were putting on the performance. They soon began to realize that there were even more rights, sometimes, than one would expect. >> [LAUGH] Right. >> And they gave me a free ticket to the play when it was over. >> Well that was nice, well that was nice. >> Yeah, sometimes they'll, with, especially with highly commercialized plays, there are also contractual limits on the number of copies you can make, filming, for filming the performance or how long you can keep them too. >> Mm-hm. Right. And those contractual agreements will trump. >> Yes. >> The copyright laws [CROSSTALK] >> Yes. Exactly, yeah. And finally, sometimes we want to incorporate footage into a new work, a new work of video. Again, we have the same rules that we have with other copyrighted formats. A fair use analysis may be helpful. The discussion of whether this is a derivative work or a transformative fair use. And again, on social media, if you have uploaded a video that has components from another video, if the work is deemed infringing by the social media platform, it could be removed. Well, thank you for watching and listening.
