Paul,
I'm not a copyright lawyer (but I play one on TV - ha), so take this for
what it's worth. But I do believe that the issue has to deal with the
license you get when you buy a DVD. When you buy a DVD/VHS you are buying
the piece of plastic, but you are also buying the license to play it with
restrictions. These have to be thought of and treated separately. As another
lister mentioned, the license and its restrictions are mentioned in the
warning before each film. So if I go to Best Buy and purchase a DVD that I
want to show to a dozen of my friends at my home, I'm engaging in a private
screening that I am not holding on public ground and that I am not charging
for. This is within the license I purchased when I purchased the piece of
plastic. But if I as a rep for my museum purchase a DVD and show it in my
museum, regardless of entrance fees, I'm now a business (not a private
individual) on a public space (not my home) showing it for a mass audience
(whomever may show up). This is not within the license I purchased. Even
though I'm a museum (and not a traditional business), the movie has
educational value, and my "mass audience" may not be nearly as large as a
movie theater, it's still beyond the private individual/private showing
license sold with commercial DVD's. There is no fair use exception when it
comes to museums and public showings; or, classrooms of children (which
falls under fair use) are treated separately than a public museum. When I
buy a DVD from a place like Swank I'm buying the piece of plastic and the
license to show it in public, hence the larger fee (although Swank seems
very reasonable to me).
The same is true for CD's and gallery spaces. If I buy a CD and want to play
it in my museum, I am not allowed to play more than 29.9 seconds of any song
unless I pay royalties to ASCAP and/or BMI (music publishing companies).
Ever wonder why iTunes and Amazon and everyone have 30 second previews of
their digital music? Because 30 seconds is the limit before you violate
copyright law.
That said, what are the odds that you'll get caught? I just don't know. I
hosted an Elvis exhibition that a previous museum said they played Elvis
CD's (full CD's) in the gallery. Someone who worked for ASCAP or BMI went to
the exhibition and, of course, was on them for copyright infringement. I
believe they simply had to cease and desist and no formal charges were
brought. But we play CD's in our lobby without thought (uh oh, hope the
ASCAP people aren't reading!). So the odds of getting caught are slim, the
repercussions aren't that great (unless they want to make an example of
you), but it is an illegal act that could bear strong reaction. I choose to
err on the side of caution.
Hope that helps,
George Garner
Director of Exhibitions
Center for History
808 West Washington, South Bend, IN 46601
www.centerforhistory.org // (574) 235-9664
--------
Celebrate Founders Month in August at the Center for History with a visit to
the exhibitions, From Southold to South Bend and New Order on the Land.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Perry" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 7:33 PM
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
|
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