DVDs and Streaming Video

The Chester Fritz Library DVDs are for home individual use as well as for in person classroom use.

Public Performance Rights (PPR) are the legal rights to publicly show a DVD. The library did not buy these rights for our DVD collection. Some of our DVDs are PBS videos that don't have rights specified and might be able to be viewed publicly. To test if a DVD is available online, search the PBS website and see if they are freely available.

When using digitized video content, it's best to do a Fair Use analysis first before using the material.
 

Four Factors of Fair Use and Media Use Considerations:

• Purpose or character of use (commercial vs. non-profit educational purposes)
  • Is the purpose for educational use, such as teaching, scholarship, or research?
  • Are students engaged in the content?
• Nature of copyrighted work
  • Is the work informational or generally for entertainment?
• Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
  • How much of the work is needed to accomplish the pedagogical goal?
  • Best practice is to have the work hosted for only as long as you need it and behind technological safeguards
• Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work
  • How easy is it for the student to gain access to the material on their own and cost efficiently?
  • How easy or difficult is it to contact the license holder?

Disclaimer: Per UND Legal Counsel, technology evolves at a rapid pace and using the TEACH Act may be harder to defend.

Section 110(1) of the Copyright Act addresses performance and display of copyrighted materials in the face-to-face classroom.  

Teachers have more privileges in face-to-face teaching situations for the use of copyrighted materials than teachers in online instruction. The TEACH Act (Section 110 (2) of U.S. Copyright Law) attempts to bring the two environments closer together, but the two environments are still not level.

The TEACH Act addresses performance and display in online teaching (teaching through Blackboard). The TEACH Act:

• Does not cover textual materials such as readings.
• Is a copyright exemption for performance and display of copyrighted materials used in teaching conducted through digital transmission, specifically,  "the performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work or reasonable and limited portions of any other work, or display of a work in an amount comparable to that which is typically displayed in the course of a live classroom session."
• Applies to material transmitted via course delivery systems, such as Blackboard, unless you choose to use Fair Use as an alternative. 
• Is not a wild card exemption to do anything you want; it comes with limitations.

Obligations of the instructor under the TEACH Act:

• The performance or display is made by or under the supervision of an instructor.
• The performance or display is directly related and integral to the class content, not ancillary like Reserves
• The work is part of systematic mediated instructional activities
• The "transmission is made solely for and limited to students officially enrolled in the course."
• Materials that are used for performance or display must be lawfully made and acquired.
• Instructor must use reasonable controls to prevent copying and retention of the work, those that would "discourage most users." (streaming is suggested for video; thumbnails, watermarks and disabling right click copy function can be used to protect images.)
• A digital copy may be made from an analog copy when no digital version is available or when the digital version is technologically protected.
• Work must carry a warning notice to students, such as "This performance is copyrighted material permitted for use under the TEACH Act. Viewing is restricted to students enrolled in this course. This material is not to be retained or further distributed."

Source: University of Missouri-Kansas City University Libraries Copyright Guide

More information regarding the TEACH Act is available from the American Library Association Copyright for Libraries Guide.

Can I show a YouTube video to my in-person and online classes?

Yes, using YouTube to demonstrate pedagogical points is fine, however, do not use YouTube videos that contain infringing content just as you would not use any other type of infringing content. YouTube is particularly full with such material despite YouTube's best efforts. The best way to handle a YouTube video is to link to it. Using YouTube's embedded code for linking is okay also; it's just code and YouTube makes it available for users to embed.

Source: Copyright & Fair Use: Media in the Classroom, University of Texas Arlington

Do you want to know where you can rent a specific streaming film to show a preview or a short clip for instruction? For feature films and TV shows, there are websites that aggregate links to where items can be rented.  Examples include: