PP videos

MileFilms@aol.com
Mon, 8 May 2000 14:10:56 -0700 (PDT)

I think Gary and Jessica are saying the same thing and I know that Kino (and
Milestone and others) try to charge public performance rights at reasonable
rates to encourage proper usage of film and video. Gary is coming from the
other side where $495 "institutional" rates are insisted for a video that is
only going to be used in the classroom. Neither Jessica or I have experiences
with educational video so we don't deal with those problems on an every day
basis. We only face the frustrations of seeing our films illegally advertised
in local newspapers while a licensed showing is going on across town or
sometimes, even in the same institution! Needless to say, it causes our
legitimate customers to be perturbed.

May I point out, however, that I am fairly certain that "fair use" is the
wrong term for the use of video in a classroom since the fair use law only
refers to written material. Film and video comes under its own law, Title
17.

The only reason I'm bringing this up is because the two laws aren't particular
ly similar and the differences (the ability to copy and excerpt, for example)
are where many educators misunderstand what is possible in the classroom and
what is not in the use of video.

The Library of Congress has actually posted a very good place to download
Title 17 and the copyright law. It's:

http://www.loc.gov/copyright/title17/

So can we refer to Title 17 when we refer to video showings instead of using
the term "fair use?"

Dennis Doros
Milestone Film & Video
PO Box 128
Harrington Park, NJ 07640-0128
Phone: (201) 767-3117 or (800) 603-1104
Fax: (201) 767-3035
Email: Milefilms@aol.com
Website: <A HREF="http://lcweb.loc.gov/film/arch.html">http://www.milestonefil
ms.com</A>