On a much more important topic
GO CUBS ( shoot me Gary , Spring Training started and Susan roots for the
Right team)
On 2/22/06 9:55 AM, "Susan Albrecht" <albrechs@wabash.edu> wrote:
> I think the question, though, Jessica, is why is it WORSE to stream a film
> **that the institution owns** and then password protect it and make it
> available to only a particular class of students, than it would be to have
> it on reserve? (There is no argument, correct?, that it's okay to place
> any video a library owns on reserve?) IOW, what most of us have done in
> the past is take that VHS or DVD that we *own* and place it on
> reserve. The students in that class would have to come into the library
> during the hours that we're open, check it out and view it here. Streaming
> and making it available, on a restricted basis, only changes the WAY in
> which those same students view the film. In the streaming situation, no
> fewer copies of the film are being purchased. So I guess I'm scratching my
> head a little here about why this is worse than the old-fashioned reserve
> system.
>
> Again, if the film were streamed into a classroom, it's no different than
> the faculty member swinging by the library, checking out the video and
> showing it in his/her classroom. I just don't see why this would cut into
> sales; the institution still has to buy the original copy that it's going
> to stream. Maybe I'm giving away my position at a very small institution
> in this response, though, and you're really thinking of large universities?
>
> Susan at Wabash
>
>
>
> At 04:20 PM 2/21/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>> I too appreciate the discussion but do think it is more than a stretch
>> and potentially dangerous to suggest that fair use would allow the streaming
>> an an entire dramatic film WITHOUT the copyright holders permission. I think
>> this goes against decades of accepted copyright and assumes that if you only
>> violate ONE element of the 4 factors listed for Fair Use it is OK. Taken to
>> its extreme it would also allow to digitize and stream whole books under
>> copyright without permission etc. I don't think the idea of 3 minutes or no
>> more than 10 percent of a work was developed out of thin air. What I always
>> like to respond in these cases is that if you feel this IS legal and covered
>> than you should have the courage of your convictions and contact the
>> copyright holder be it Kino or Disney and tell them that this is your
>> understanding of the law and you are going to do it. While I am not a big
>> fan of how Disney and over major studios handle stuff , the truth is small
>> companies like Kino don't have the resources for much legal action ( though
>> we have taken some none at this point has been against an academic
>> institution).
>> As for what a company would "lose" if its films are streamed into a
>> classroom, the simple answer is the revenue we need to survive. The average
>> Kino film costs $30 and most are bought by wholesalers at a steep discount
>> If Kino sells a copy of Metropolis for $17 to a school that buys it from
>> Ingram or Amazon etc and then streams it to classes all over its entire
>> system we simply can't survive. We expect for instance different campuses of
>> an institution to buy their own copy ( though can always interlibrary loan)
>> and on very popular films a school might buy a few copies. What if the
>> school just borrowed a legal copy from the local rental store and digitized
>> that for streaming? I assume you can see the problem. Now I think we are
>> more than open to working with schools on streaming when we have rights and
>> can have some limits on the terms. There was an old joke by Goddard that
>> eventually Hollywood would just make one film a year and everyone would
>> watch that, well my fear of the slippery slope of thinking that you can
>> digitize whole films under "Fair Use" is that some day everyone will want to
>> digitize it from the SAME copy.
>>
>> For the record I personally take a liberal view of these things and have
>> allowed several schools that have closed circuit campus systems to use our
>> films AT NO EXTRA charge if it is just being sent to a single class but this
>> is a lot different from giving unlimited access to both classes and students
>> in those classes.
>>
>> It is already difficult and getting harder by the day to put out ANY small
>> film on DVD. There are so many wonderful foreign & classic films we COULD
>> put out if only we knew enough people would buy them. While streaming should
>> theoretically be some kind of additional revenue stream under your scenario
>> it would almost certainly be the death of putting any of these films out.
>> As it stands I doubt we will ever put out another African film and I can't
>> get Kino to release the 3 silent films by women directors that I produced on
>> video on ONE DVD for $30 because their is not enough of a market. I
>> understand we really all want to work together so that everyone gets what
>> They need but suggesting that schools can digitize whole films without
>> compensation to rights holders is almost guaranteed to make fewer and fewer
>> small films legally available
>>
>> OK long rant sorry still jet lagged
>> Because of lack of market
>
> Susan Albrecht
> Acquisitions Coordinator
> Wabash College Lilly Library
> Crawfordsville, IN
> x6216
> albrechs@wabash.edu
>
> ******************************************************************************
> ***
> "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."--Neil Peart
> ******************************************************************************
> ***
>
>
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Proud Resident of a BLUE STATE
Jessica Rosner
Kino International
333 W 39th St. 503
NY NY 10018
jrosner@kino.com
212-629-6880
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