Copyright Hits the Highway

A high school teacher would like to copy his lecture on DVD for his class, especially for those students who have been absent. He would like to include five minutes of the television show The West Wing, which he copied while at home. Is that legal?
-Deb Jones, librarian, Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library, Middleville, MI

Yes, this is a lawful activity. Obviously, the teacher can choose to copy his own lecture on DVD without any problems. (If he recorded another teacher's lecture without prior permission, there might be copyright and other legal concerns.) Since the teacher owns the copyright of the resulting DVD, he can do anything he wants with it. Recording a portion of The West Wing for classroom use is also fine for two reasons. The copyright law allows that works can be publicly performed or viewed in the face-to-face classroom. The law also allows teachers to record television programs (with some limitations) for later use in the classroom. Since the teacher is using only a small portion of the TV program for nonprofit educational purposes, and since the effect on the market will be minimal, this activity clearly falls into 'fair use.'

Our district is thinking about purchasing a media retrieval system that uses computers exclusively. VHS videos would need to be converted digitally before they could be shown. I thought that it was illegal to change the format without permission from the copyright holder. Is this still the case?
-Sue E. Salzsieder, librarian, Chilton (WI) Elementary and Middle School Library

Yes, this is an infringement of copyright. By making copies of the videos, the district is infringing on the copyright holder's right of reproduction. I know that many school districts are moving toward digital delivery of media to the classroom. It makes sense to take advantage of new technology to improve the teaching experience and maximize the library's resources. Unfortunately, the copyright law does not allow schools to make complete copies of owned works, even for nonprofit educational situations. Schools should work with the video distributors and gain permission to reproduce the works prior to digitizing the videos. Hopefully, the video distributors will offer a discounted price since the school library already owns lawful copies of the videotapes. Schools and libraries should leverage their collective buying power and demand fair licenses and pricing structures from video distributors and publishers. Please note that it is lawful to show videos in the physical classroom as part of the class experience (but not for entertainment purposes). What is problematic here is that the schools are making infringing copies, not that they want to screen the titles in the classroom.

Most tour buses that our teachers use to take students on field trips now have TVs and VCRs for the students to watch a movie while on the bus. How does this fit into 'fair use'?
-Kathy Idol, librarian, Parkway School, Boone, NC

The copyright law allows teachers to show videos to their students in the face-to-face teaching environment without the prior permission of the copyright holder. One could successfully argue that the field-trip experience is an extension of the regular classroom- the students are leaving the classroom and going on the field trip for a specific learning experience. I would argue that it would not be an infringement of copyright to show a video directly related to the curriculum while the students ride on the bus. However, I imagine that it is more likely the students are watching the video for entertainment purposes only. If that's the case, you have an unauthorized public performance, even though no admission fees are charged. The librarian should purchase public performance rights from the video distributor prior to screening the video to the students on the bus.