As long as admission isn't paid for the viewing it can be shown I believe -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Perry Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 7:34 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Another Reel Concern I am still confused as to the legitimacy of museums showing films at their institutions and copyright infrigement. On one hand museums are educational institutions. So long as their film programs have some educational component to them (i.e. discussion before or afterward, etc), what is the big deal if the film shown is from the local video store? And it does seem that DvD is the preferred format these days. I have never been able to get a consistent answer yet from colleagues in the field. Some say they pay a performance fee to the distributor for a one time showing, or if they have a special "film series". Some say they don't deal with performance fees because they only show the film to a small, select group of people (e.g. Members, docents, etc.)-- not the general public. So since it's considered a private screening, it's OK. Others simply throw caution to the wind and rent DvDs from the local video store and show them at their museums to the general public in order to supplement their programming. In this case, is it considered a public or private screening? I'm willing to bet many museums are NOT paying performance fees to any distributor. Have you seen the cost of some of these fees? Unless your institution has a humongous budget, the fees are far outside the range of what most institutions want to add to their budgets. And has anyone heard of a museum getting sued for showing a rented DvD at their institution? Is there any website that specifically talks about this issue as it pertains to museums? Is there a common consensus out there about this issue? An inquiring mind wants to know Paul Perry Lakeland, Florida ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).