RE: [Fwd: RE: Film showings

["Blobaum, Paul" <p-blobaum@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am interested in the response to this.

Our university doesn't have a motion picture industry license... we are
a commuter campus and don't really have a film series.  However,
occasionally videos are shown during Black History month, or Women's
History Month; as part of a student activity.  The legal counsel's
office is pushing Student Life to get a license.  However, we also have
had an occasional film series which is more scholarly, maybe 4 or 5
films shown over two or 3 months with a theme... no admission is
charged; there is a discussion afterwards, showings are open to the
public.  It was decided to develop this particular "film series" type
offerings into a non-credit workshop, offering it to the public, but
there is no registration requirement or grade given.  There is a
discussion and refreshments given with no charge.  I'm not sure if this
is making the video rental and showing "OK".

I would argue these types of showings could be considered "educational"
but really they don't fit into the copyright law educational guidelines
which would require face to face instruction in an instructional
course...  Videos rented from Blockbuster are supposed to be used for
private audiences.

We just approved our first university copyright policies and a
university copyright committee is being appointed.  This is a hot topic
here!

Paul Blobaum, University Professor
Health Professions Librarian, Grants Information Librarian, and
Government Documents Librarian
Governors State University Library
University Park, IL  60466              708-534-4139
p-blobaum@xxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: Olga Francois [mailto:ofrancois@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 11:31 AM
To: digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: paul_tremblay@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Fwd: RE: Film showings